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COLLECTIONS 

MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY 

VOLUME  XVII 


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MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Officers 
GiDEjJN  S.  Ives,  President 
Frederic  A.  Fogg,  First  Vice-President 
William  W.  Folwell,  Second  Vice-President 
Solon  J.  Buck,  Superintendent  and  Secretary 
Everett  H.  Bailey,  Treasurer 


Executive  Council 
Ex  Officio 

J.  A.  A.  BuRKQUisT  Jac 

Governor 
Thomas  Fbankson 

Lieutenant  Goverm 

y 


Secrelary  of  Slate 


Jacob  A,  O.  Phetjs 
State  Auditor 

Hekby  Rines 

State  Treasurer 

Clifford  L.  Hilton 

Attorney-General 


Everett  H.  Bailev 
Charles  Bechhoefer 
Sot,on  J.  Buck 
Rev.  William  Busch 
Frederick  M,  Catun 
LoRiH  Cray 
Oliver  Crosby 
William  W.  Cutler 
Frederic  A.  Fogg 
William  W.  Folwell 
Guy  Stamton  Ford 
Harold  Harris 
Frederick  G.  In^gersoll 
Gideon  S,  Ives 

Edward  I 


Victor  E.  Lawson 
William  E.  Lee 
William  H.  Light ker 
William  A.  McGonagle 
William  B.  Mitchell 
Charles  P.  Noyes 
Victor  Kobebtson 

J.    F.    RoSENWALD 

Edward  P.  Sanborn 
Rev.  Marion  D.  Shutter 
Charles  Stees 
Warren  Upham 
.Olin  D.  Wheeler 
Habry  E.  Whitney 


The  Executive  Committee  consists  of  the  president,  the  secretary, 
the  treasurer,  and  two  appointed  members,  Frederic  A,  Fogg  and  Edward 
P.  Sanborm. 


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COLLECTIONS   OF  THE   MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 
VOLUME  XVII 


MINNESOTA 
GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

THEIR  ORIGIN  AND  HISTORIC  SIGNIFICANCE 


WARREN  UPHAM 

ARCHAEOLOGIST  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
SAtNT  PAUL,  1920 


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PREFACE 

During  sixteen  years,  from  1879  to  1894,  of  service  for  the 
geological  surveys  of  Minnesota,  the  United  States,  and  Can- 
ada, in  travel  over  Jarge  areas  of  this  state,  the  Dakotas,  and 
Manitoba,  my  attention  was  often  attracted  to  the  origins  of 
their  names  of  places,  partly  received  directly  from  the  Indian 
languages,  and  in  many  other  instances  translated  from  the 
aboriginal  names.  Frequently  our  geographic  names  note  re- 
markable topographic  features,  or  are  derived  from  the  fauna 
and  flora.  Perhaps  a  greater  number  commemorate  pioneer 
white  explorers,  early  fur  traders,  and  agricultural  settlers. 

Later  work  for  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  since 
1895,  has  permitted  and  even  required  more  detailed  considera- 
tion and  record  in  this  field.  Many  memorials  of  our  territorial 
and  state  history  are  preserved  in  geographic  names,  and  each 
nationality  contributing  to  the  settlement  has  its  share  in  this 
nomenclature.  As  the  first  immigrants  of  the  state  along  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  coast  brought  many  place  names  from  Eng- 
land, France,  Holland,  and  Spain,  so  in  Minnesota  many  geo- 
graphic names  have  come  from  beyond  the  sea.  Here  the  in7 
fluence  of  a  large  proportion  of  immigration  from  Germany  is 
shown  by  such  names  as  New  Ulm,  New  Trier,  Hamburg, 
Cologne,  and  New  Munich.  Old  Bohemia  is  brought  to  mind 
by  the  city  of  New  Prague.  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark 
are  well  represented  by  Stockholm,  Malmo,  Bergen,  Trond- 
hjem,  Denmark,  and  many  other  township  and  village  names. 
In  the  early  eastern  and  southern  states,  Plymouth,  Boston, 
Portsmouth,  Bangor,  New  York,  Charleston,  St.  Augustine, 
and  New  Orleans,  recalled  tender  memories  of  the  Old  World. 
Likewise,  these  German  and  Bohemian  and  Scandinavian 
names  have  a  great  meaning  to  the  immigrants  from  those 
countries  who  have  made  their  new  homes  here. 

To  illustrate  how  this  subject  is  like  a  garden  of  flowers, 
or  like  an  epic  poem,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  names  of 
the  eighty-six  Minnesota  counties.     Fifteen  came  directly,  or 


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iv  PREFACE 

through  translation,  from  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  language,  eight 
being  retained  as  Sioux  words,  Anoka,  Dakota,  Isanti,  Kan- 
diyohi, Wabasha,  Waseca,  Watonwan,  and  Winona.  Six  are 
translated  into  English,  namely,  Big  Stone,  Blue  Earth,  Cot- 
tonwood, Redwood,  Traverse,  and  Yellow  Medicine ;  and  one 
is  received  in  its  French  translation,  Lac  qui  Parle.  Twelve 
counties  bear  names  of  Ojibway  origin;  but  only  five,  Chisago, 
Kanabec,  Koochiching,  Mahnomen,  and  Wadena,  are  Indian 
words,  and  the  first  was  made  by  a  white  man's  coinage.  The 
seven  others  are  Chippewa  (the  anglicized  form  of  Ojibway), 
Clearwater,  Crow  Wing,  MiUe  Lacs  (a  translation  in  French), 
Otter  Tail,  Red  Lake,  and  Roseau  (another  French  transla- 
tion). 

Fifty-two  counties  have  received  personal  names,  which 
may  be  arranged  in  four  lists.  The  early  explorers  of  this 
area  are  commemorated  by  seven  counties ;  the  fur  traders  of 
the  early  half  of  the  last  century,  by  four;  citizens  of  Minne- 
sota as  a  territory  and  state  have  been  honored  by  the  names 
of  twenty-six  counties;  and  citizens  of  other  parts  of  the 
United  States  are  similarly  honored  in  fifteen  counties.  First 
enumerating  the  seven  county  names  from  explorers,  we  have 
Beltrami,  Carver,  Cass,  Hennepin,  Le  Sueur,  Nicollet,  and 
Pope.  The  four  named  for  early  fur  traders  are  Aitkin,  Fari- 
bault, Morrison,  and  Renville.  The  twenty-six  counties  named 
for  Minnesota  citizens  are  Becker,  Brown,  Carlton,  Cook,  Free- 
born, Goodhue,  Hubbard,  Jackson,  Kittson,  McLeod,  Marshall, 
Meeker,  Mower,  Murray,  Nobles,  Olmsted,  Pennington,  Ramsey, 
Rice,  Sherburne,  Sibley,  Stearns,  Steele,  Swift,  Todd,  and  Wilkin 
counties.  Among  the  fifteen  counties  named  for  citizens  of 
this  country  outside  of  Minnesota,  five  are  in  honor  of  presi- 
dents of  the  United  States,  these  being  Washingon,  Polk,  Fill- 
more, Lincoln,  and  Grant.  The  ten  others  in  this  list  are 
Benton,  Clay,  Dodge,  Douglas,  Houston,  Lyon,  Martin,  Scott, 
Stevens,  and  Wright. 

Six  of  our  counties  have  names  given  by  white  men  for 
natural  features,  in  addition  to  the  larger  number  so  derived 
from  the  Indian  languages.  These  are  Itasca,  taking  the  name 
of  the  lake,  formed  of  two  Latin  words;  Lake  county,  named 
for  Lake  Superior;   Pine  county,   so  named   for  its  extensive 


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PREFACE  V 

pine  forests;  Pipestone  county,  for  the  Indian  pipestone 
quarry  there ;  Rock  county,  for  the  very  prominent  rock  out- 
crop near  Luverne ;  and  St.  Louis  county,  for  its  river  of  that 
name.  One  county  received  its  name,  Norman,  in  honor  of  its 
large  number  of  immigrants  from  Norway. 

The  eariiest  systematic  endeavor  to  trace  the  origins  of 
Minnesota  county  names  was  published  by  John  Fletcher  Wil- 
liams, secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  as  an 
article  in  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer,  March  13,  1870.  Another  con- 
tribution to  this  subject,  by  Return  I.  Holcombe,  of  St.  Paul,  ' 
was  in  the  Pioneer  Press  Almanac,  1896.  Both  these  lists 
have  been  consulted,  with  much  advantage,  for  the  present 
volume. 

In  ascertaining  derivations  and  meanings  of  Dakota  and 
Ojibway  names,  very  valuable  aid  has  been  obtained  from  a 
paper,  "Minnesota  Geographical  Names  derived  from  the  Da- 
kota Language,  with  some  that  are  Obsolete,"  by  Prof.  An- 
drew W.  Williamson,  of  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island,  lU., 
published  in  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Geological 
and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minnesota,  for  1884,  pages  104- 
112;  and  from  another  paper,  in  the  Fifteenth  Report  of  the 
same  survey,  for  1886,  pages  451-477,  "Minnesota  Geographi- 
cal Names  derived  from  the  Chippewa  Language,"  by  Rev. 
Joseph  A.  GilfiUan,  of  White  Earth,  who  also  supplied  in  later 
letters  many  further  notes  of  Ojibway  names.  These  two 
papers  are  the  most  important  sources  of  information  on  Min- 
nesota geographic  terms  of  Indian  origin,  supplementing  the 
frequent  references  to  origins  of  names  by  Hennepin,  Carver, 
Mackenzie,  Thompson,  Pike,  Long  and  Keating,  Beltrami, 
Schoolcraft,  Allen,  Featherstonhaugh,  Catlin,  Lea,  Nicollet,  and 
other  explorers  of  the  area  which  is  now  Minnesota. 

The  narrations  of  these  discoverers  and  explorers,  and 
many  later  books,  pamphlets,  newspapers,  atlases,  and  maps, 
have  been  examined  in  the  Library  of  the  Minnesota  Histori- 
cal Society.  Special  acknowledgments  are  due  to  the  following 
books  and  authors : 

Grammar  and  Dictionary  of  the  Dakota  Language,  edited 
by  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Rig^s,  published  by  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution,  Washington,    1852;   and   a   revised   edition   of  the 


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vi  PREFACE 

greater  part,  a  Dakota-Englisfi  Dictionary,  issued  in  1890  as  vol- 
ume VII,  "Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology." 

An  Enghsh-Dakota  Dictionary,  compiled  by  John  P.  Wil- 
liamson, printed  by  the  American  Tract  Society,  1902. 

A  Grammar  of  the  Otchipwe  [Ojibway]  language,  18?8; 
a  Dictionary  of  the  Otchipwe  Language,  Part  I,  English- 
Otchipwe,  1878;  and  Part  II,  Otchipwe-English,  1880.  These 
are  editions  published  in  Montreal,  of  volumes  by  Bishop  Fred- 
eric Baraga,  the  Grammar  having  been  first  published  in  De- 
troit, 1850,  and  the  Dictionary  in  Cincinnati,  1853. 

A  Glossary  of  Chippewa  Indian  Names  of  Rivers,  Lakes, 
and  Villages,  by  Rev.  Chrysostom  Verwyst,  of  Bayfield,  Wis., 
in  Acta  et  Dicta  ...  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
Northwest,  published  in  St.  Paul,  volume  IV,  pages  253-274, 
July,  1916. 

Handbook  of  American  Indians  north  of  Mexico,  edited  fay 
Frederick  W,  Hodge,  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion as  Bulletin  30,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  two  vol- 
umes, 1907,  1910. 

The  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minne- 
sota, 1872-1901,  by  Prof,  -N.  H.  Winchell,  state  geologist,  and 
assistants:  Annual  Reports,  24  volumes;  Bulletins,  10  vol- 
umes, treating  partly  of  the  mammals,  birds,  fishes,  and  the 
flora;  Final  Reports,  6  vojumes,  having  chapters  for  all  the 
counties  and  for  the  iron  ore  ranges. 

Memoirs  of  Explorations  in  the  Basin  of  the  Mississippi, 
by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  of  St.  Paul,  eight  volumes,  1898-1905. 
Four  of  these  volumes  relate  to  parts  of  this  state,  being  III, 
Mille  Lac,  1900;  IV,  Kathio,  1901;  V,  Kakabikansing,  1902; 
and  VI,  Minnesota,  1903. 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  fifteen  volumes, 
1850-1915.  Biogi'aphic  references  for  places  bearing  names  of 
personal  derivation  have  been  supplied  in  the  greater  part  by 
thfe  fourteenth  volume,  Minnesota  Biographies,  1655-1912. 

The  Aborigines  of  Minnesota,  a  Report  based  on  the  col- 
lections of  Jacob  V.  Brower,  and  on  the  field  surveys  and 
notes  of  Alfred  J,  Hill  and  Theodore  H.  Lewis,  coHated,  ali- 
mented and  described  by  N.  H.  Winchell;  published  by  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society,  St.  Paul,  1911. 


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PREFACE  vii 

The  Origin  of  Certain  Place  Names  in  the  United  States, 
second  edition,  by  Henry  Gannett,  published  in  1905  as  Bul- 
letin 258  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 

Complete  Pronouncing  Gazetteer  or  Geographical  Dic- 
tionary of  the  World,  published  by  the  J.  B.  Lippincott  Com- 
pany, 1911,  two  volumes. 

A  History  of  the  Origin  of  the  Place  Names  connected 
with  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  and  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Min- 
neapolis &  Omaha  Railways,  .  .  .  compiled  by  one  [W. 
H.  Stennett]  who  for  more  than  34  years  has  been  an  officer  in 
the  employ  of  the  system ;  Chicago,  190S. 

In  the  early  progress  of  this  research,  a  paper  by  the 
author,  "Origin  of  Minnesota  Geographic  Names,"  including 
quite  full  notes  for  each  county  name,  was  read  at  a  monthly 
meeting  of  the  executive  council  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society,  May  8,   1899;  and  a  second  address,  entitled  "The 
Origin  and  Meaning  of  Minnesota  Names  of  Rivers,  Lakes, 
Counties,  Townships,  and  Cities,"  was  presented  at  an  annual 
meeting  of  this  Society,  January  11,  1904.    These  papers  were 
mainly  published  in  a  series  of  articles  in  the  Office  Blotter, 
a  Minneapolis  journal  issued  chiefly  for  the  interest  of  Minne- 
sota county  officers,  April  to  August,  1904;  and  they  were 
again  published  with  slight  changes  and  additions  in  the  Maga- 
zine of  History,  New  York,  volume  VIII,  September  to  No- 
vember, 1908.     More  condensed  and  somewhat  revised,  they 
were  embodied  in  a   newspaper  article,   "Whence  came   the 
Names   of   Minnesota's   Counties,"   in   the   St.    Paul    Pioneer 
Press,  November  19,   1911.     After  further  revision,  notes  of 
origins  of  the  county  names  were  published  in  numerous  Min- 
nesota daily  newspapers,  usually  one  county  each  day  in  alpha- 
betic order,  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1916. 

For  interviews  with  county  officers,  pioneer  settlers,  and 
others,  twenty  counties  of  northern  Minnesota  were  visited  by 
the  author  in  the  autumn  of  1909;  and  in  the  year  1916,  from 
April  to  October,  all  the  eighty-six  counties  were  visited. 
Such  personal  interviews,  to  some  extent  followed  by  corre- 
spondence, have  been  the  chief  sources  of  information  for  most 
parts  of  this  work,  except  for  the  considerable  list  of  counties 
having  published  histories.     Dates  of  organization  of  town- 


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viii  -     PREFACE 

ships  and  villages  are  noted  mainly  from  the  county  histories, 
so  that  comparatively  few  dates  are  given  under  other  coun- 
ties. 

Published  and  personal  sources  consulted  for  each  county 
are  stated  at  the  beginning-  of  its  catalogue  pi  townships.  To 
the  many  citizens  who  have  contributed  notes  of  the  origins  of 
place  names,  and  of  the  names  of  .streets  and  parks  in  our  three 
great  cities,  the  author  and-  the  people  of  Minnesota  are  endur- 
jngly  indebted.  Within  the  lifetime  of  pioneers  who  shared 
in  the  first  settlement  and  in  ail  the  development  of  this  com- 
monwealth, a  careful  record  has  been  made  of  a  very  signifi- 
cant portion  of  its  history. 

The  first  chapter  of  the  book  treats  of  general  features, 
as  districts  bearing  topographic  names,  the  state  name  and 
sobriquets,  and  the  larger  lakes  and  rivers.  Eighty-six  chap- 
ters treat  of  the  place  names  of  the  counties  in  alphabetic 
order.  The  name  of  each  county  is  first  somewhat  fully 
noticed;  next  the  townships  and  villages  are  listed  in  their 
alphabetic  series,  preceded  by  the  due  mention  of  books  and 
persons  supplying  information  for  the  county ;  and  last  are 
records  of  lakes  and  streams,  hills,  prairi«s,  and,  in  some  of  the 
counties,  Indian  reservations,  iron  ore  ranges,  state  and  na- 
tional forests,  state  parks,  glacial  lakes,  beaches,  and  moraines. 
Localities  of  exceptional  historic  interest  are  found  in  nearly 
every  county.  Origins  of  the  names  of  streets,  avenues,  and 
parks,  in  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and  Duluth,  are  noted  in  the 
final  three  chapters,  so  that  the  whole  volume  comprises  ninety 
chapters. 

To  find  notations  of  any  city,  township,  village,  lake,  river 
or  creek,  hills  and  prairies,  iron  ranges,  etc.,  the  reader  will 
consult  the  Index,  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  which  is  the  key 
to  all  its  contents.  An  explanation  of  abbreviations  used  in 
the  Index  is  given  on  its  first  page. 

Warren  Upham 

Minnesota  H:storical  Society 
St.  Paul 


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MINNESOTA 
GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 


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GENEI^AL  FEATURES 

The  most  conspicuous  geographic  features  of  this  state  are  its  larger 
rivers  and  lakes,  including  the  Minnesota  river,  whence  the  state  is  named, 
the  Mississippi,  largest  of  this  ocmtinent,  wliich  here  has  its  source  and  a 
great  part  of  its  course,  the  Red  river,  the  Rainy,  St.  Louis,  and  St.  Croix 
rivers.  Lake  Superior,  adjoining  Minnesota  by  150  miles  of  its  northwest 
shore,  Rainy  lake  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  Red  lake,  Winnebagoshish 
and  Leech  lakes,  and  Mille  Lacs,  each  requiring  meTition  as  belonging 
partly  to  two  or  more  counties.  Likewise  the  origins  and  meaning  ai  the 
names  of  many  smaller  rivers  and  lakes  need  to  be  given  in  this  chapter, 
to  which  reference  may  be  made  under  their  several  counties,  unless  their 
names,  borne  by  Jjounties,  townships,  or  villages,  are  thus  fully  noticed. 

Districts  bearing  Topographic  Names. 


Only  limited  areas  of  Minnesota  have  low  n 
worthy  hills  that  have  received  names.  Such  are  hilly  or  somevrfiat 
mountainous  tracts  on  the  Vermilion  and  Mesahi  ranges,  names  wliich 
designate  belts  having  immense  deposits  of  iron  ores,  noted  under  Itasca, 
St.  Louis,  Lake  and  Cook  counties.  The  first  of  these  ranges  was  named 
from  the  Vermilion  lake  and  river  in  St.  Louis  county.  The  second  has 
an  Ojibway  name,  spelled  "Missabay  Heights"  by  NifloUet,  translated  as 
Giant  mountain  by  Gilfillan.  It  is  spelled  Missabe,  pronounced  in  three 
syllables,  by  Baraga's  Dictionary,  which  defines  it  as  "Giant;  also,  a  very 
big  stout  man." 

The  third  and  more  southern  belt  of  iron  ores,  latest  discovered  but 
now  having  many  and  large  mines,  was  named  the  Cuyuna  range  by  its 
discoverer,  Cuyler  Adams,  from  his  own  name  and  from  his  dog,  Una, 
who  acaompanied  him  in  many  prospecting  trips.  This  iron  range  has  no 
prominently  hilly  tract. 

From  Duluth  to  the  northeast  corner  of  this  state,  the  land  rises  gen- 
erally 500  to  800  feet  or  more  above  Lake  Superior  within  a  few  miles 
back  from  its  shore,  forming  the  southern  margin  of  a  high  wooded  area 
that  reaches  to  the  international  boundary  and  is  diversified  by  mostly  low 
ridges  and  hills.  Seen  from  passing  boats,  the  eroded  front  of  this  high- 
land for  about  thirty  miles  in  Cook  county,  from  Carlton  peak  to  Grand 
Marais,  presents  a  peculiarly  serrate  profile  and  is  therefore  commonly 
called  the  Sawteeth  mountains,  more  definitely  no-ted  for  that  county. 

Morainic  hills  of  the  glacial  drift,  amassed  along  the  borders  of  the 
continental  ice-shhet,  are  traced  in  twelve  successive  belts  across  this  state. 
The  most  noteworthy  development  of  these  bills  is  found  in  Otter  Tail 
county,  where  the  eighth  and  ninth  moraines  are  merged  to  form  the 
Leaf  hills,  called  "mountains"  by  the  settlers  in  contrast  with  the  lower 


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2  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

hills  in  other  parts  of  the  state,  rising  in  steep  slopes  to  he^hts  of  200 
to  350  feet  atong  an  extent  of  about  twenty  miles.  Their  name,  more 
fully  considered  in  the  county  chapter,  is  translated  from  the  Ojibway 
name,  which  was  thence  applied  by  the  Ojibways  to  the  Leaf  lakes  and 
river,  and  by  the  white  people  to  Leaf  Mountain  township. 

An  important  contrast  is  exhibited  by  the  vegetation  in  different  parts 
of  Minnesota.  Forest  covers  its  northeastern  two-thirds,  approximately, 
while  about  one-third,  lying  at  the  south  and  southwest,  and  reaching  in 
the  Red  river  valley  to  the  Canadian  line,  as  also  the  part  of  this  valley 
north  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  is  prairie.  Half  of  the  state,  on  the  northeast, 
had  originally  extensive  tracts  of  very  valuable  white  pine  and  red  pine, 
which  have  been  mostly  cut  off  by  lumbermen.  Interspersed  with  these 
and  other  evergreen  species,  as  the  spruces,  balsam  fir,  and  arbor  vitae, 
were  tracts  of  maple,  elm,  bass,  oaks,  ash,  and  other  deciduous  trees.  The 
Big  Woods,  a  translation  from  the  early  French  name.. Grand  Bois,  oc- 
cupied a  large  area  west  of  the  Mississippi,  including  Wright,  Carver, 
Scott,  and  Le  Sueur  counties,  with  parts  of  adjacent  counties.  Until  its 
timber  was  cleared  off  for  cultivation  of  the  land  in  farms,  tliis  area  was 
heavily  wooded  with  the  deciduous  forest,  shedding  its  leaves  before  win- 
ter, lying  south  of  the  geographic  range  of  the  pines  and  their  allies. 

In  the  great  prairie  region  of  southwestern  Minnesota,  and  extending 
northward  into  the  northeast  part  of  South  Dakota,  a  large  elevated  dis- 
trict is  inclosed  by  the  contour  line  of  1,500  feet  above  the  sea.  This  area 
comprises  Pipestone  county  and  the  greater  parts  of  Lincoln,  Murray, 
Nobles,  and  Rock  counties  in  this  state,  having  an  entire  length  in  the 
two  states  of  about  160  mdes.  It  was  named  by  the  early  French  voyag- 
eurs  and  explorers  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  as  on  Nicollet's  map,  meaning, 
in  English,  the  Highland  lof  the  Prairies. 

The  many  beautiful  lakes  of  Alexandria  and  its  vicinity,  of  the  ad- 
joining country  southward  to  Glenwood  and  northwest  to  Fergus  Falls, 
and  their  landscapes  of  alternating  woods  and  small  openings  of  prairies, 
have  given  the  name  Park  Region  to  that  district,  lying  between  the  un- 
broken northeastern  forest  and  the  limitless  prairie  on  the  west 

Another  area  of  many  lakes  and  streams,  having  somewhat  similar 
features  as  the  foregoing,  but  with  a  mainly  less  rolling  and  diversified 
contour,  excepting  the  valleys  and  inclosing  bluffs  of  its  rivers,  was  named 
by  Nicollet  the  Undine  Region,  comprising  the  country  of  the  Blue  Earth 
river  and  its  tributaries,  as  iloticed  in  the  chapter  of  Blue  Earth  county. 

The  Name  or  the  State. 
Minnesota  received  its  name  from  the  largest  river  which  lies  wholly 
within  its  area,  excepting  only  that  its  sources  above  Big  Stone  lake  are 
in  South  Dakota.  During  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  organization  of  Minnesota  Territory,  in  1849,  the  name  St.  Pierre,  Or 
St.  Peter,  had  been  generally  applied  to  this  river  by  French  and  Eng- 


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GENERAL  FEATURES  3 

lish '  explorers  and  writers,  March  6,  1852.  the  territorial  legislature 
adc^ted  a  memorial  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  requesting  that 
this  name  should  be  discontinued,  and  that  only  the  aboriginal  name  should 
be  used  for  the  river,  the  same  as  for  the  territory,  by  the  different 
government  departments ;  and  this  was  so  decreed  on  June  19  of  the 
same  year,  by  an  act  of  Congress. 

The  old  name,  St.  Peter's  river,  of  French  derivation,  seems  prob- 
ably to  have  been  given  in  comraemo ration  of  its  first  exploration  by 
Pierre  Charles  Le  Sueur.  If  so,  hovirever,  his  first  journey  up  the  Min- 
nesota river  was  more  than  ten  years  before  his  expedition  upon  it  in 
the  year  1700,  when  he  mined  what  he  supposed  to  be  an  ore  of  copper 
in  the  bluffs  tof  the  Blue  Earth  river,  near  the  site  of  Mankato;  for  the 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Croix  rivers  are  mentioned  by  these  names  in  Perrot's 
proclamation  at  his  Fort  St.  Antoine.  on  Lake  Pepin,  taking  possession 
of  this  region  for  France,  dated  May  8,  1689. 

The  Dakota  or  Sioux  name  Minnesota  means  sky-tinted  water 
(Minne,  water,  and  sola,  somewhat  clouded),  as  Neill  translated  it  on 
the  authority  of  Rev.  Gideon  H.  Pond.  The  river  at  its  stages  of  flood 
becomes  whitishly  turbid.  An  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  the  words 
was  told  to  the  present  writer  by  Mrs.  Moses  N.  Adams,  the  widow  of 
the  well  known  missionary  of  the  Dakotas.  She  stated  that  at  various 
times  the  Dakota  women  explained  it  to  her  by  dropping  a  little  milk  into 
water  and  calling  the  whitishly  clouded  water  "Minne  sota." 

Major  Long  in  1817  wrote  that  the  Mississippi  above  the  St.  Croix  had 
a  name  meaning  Clear  river,  and  Dr.  Folwell  in  1919  concludes  that  the 
Minnesota  means  this,  contrasted  with  the  very  muddy  Missouri. 

In  the  years  1846  to  1848,  Hon.  Henry  H,  Sibley  and  Hon,  Morgan  L. 
Martin,  the  delegate  in  Congress  from  Wisconsin,  proposed  this  name 
for  the  new  territtory,  which  thus  followed  the  example  of  Wisconsin 
in  adopting  the  title  of  a  large  stream  within  its  borders.  During  the 
next  few  years,  it  displaced  the  name  St.  Peter  as  applied  in  common 
usage  by  the  white  people  to  the  river,  whose  euphonious  Dakota  title 
will  continue  to  be  borne  by  the  river  and  the  state  probably  long  after 
(he  Dakota  or  Sioux  language  shall  cease  to  be  spoken. 

Gen.  James  H.  Baker,  in  an  address  on  the  history  of  Lake  Superior, 
before  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  at  its  annual  meeting  in  1879, 
published  in  the  third  volume  of  its  Collections  (1880,  pages  333-355), 
directed  attention,  as  follows,  to  a  somewhat  comparable  Ojibway  name 
for  the  wooded  northern  part  of  this  state. 

"In  one  of  my  expeditions  upon  the  north  shore,  being  accompanied 
by  an  intelligent  Chippewa  chief,  1  found  the  shrub.  Balm  of  Gilead,  a. 
small  tree  of  medicinal  virtue,  in  great  abundance.  He  gave  me  its 
Chippewa  name  as  Mah-na-sa-tia,  and  said  it  was  the  name  given  by 
their  people  to  all  that  country  west  of  the  great  lake,  because  it  was 
the   country  yielding  the   Mah-nu-sa-tia.     In   conversing   with   other  in- 


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4  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

teiligent  Chippewas,  I  found  this  statement  was  invariably  confirmed. 
They  claim  it  as  the  traditional  name  of  the  land  to  the  west  of  the  lake." 

This  Ojibway  word,  however,  had  no  influence  upon  the  selection  of 
our  territorial  and  state  name.  Indeed,  it  was  generally  unknown  to 
the  white  people  here  until  more  than  twenty  years  after  the  Sioux  name 
was  chosen. 

The  name  Itasca,  devised  in  1832  by  Schoolcraft  with  the  aid  of  Rev. 
William  T.  Boutwell  for  the  lake  at  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  was 
urged  by  Boutwell  for  the  territory.  Other  names  were  suggested  in 
the  discussions  of  Congress,  as  Chippeway,  Jackson,  and  Washington. 
Final  choice  of  the  name  Minnesota  was  virtually  decided  in  the  con- 
vention held  at  Stillwater  on  August  26,  1848,  which  petitioned  to  Con- 
gress for  territorial  organization. 

Carver,  who  wintered  with  the  Sioux  on  the  Minnesota  river  in  1766- 
67,  was  the  earliest  author  to  record  its  Sioux  name.  He  spelled  it  Mene- 
sotor  in  his  Travels  and  Menesoter  on  the  accompanying  map.  It  was 
spelled  Menesota  by  Long  and  Keating;  Menisothe  by  Beltrami;  Mini- 
sotah  by  Nicollet ;  Minnay  sotor  by  Featherstonhaugh ;  Minesota  by  Hon. 
M,  L.  Martin  and  Hon.  Stephen  A,  Douglas,  in  bills  introduced  by  them 
respectively  in  the  House  and  Senate  fior  organization  of  the  territory; 
and  Minnesota  by  Hon.  H.  H.  Sibley  at  the  Stillwater  convention. 

Sobriquets  of  Minnesota. 

Like  Michigan,  which  is  frequently  called  the  Wolverine  state,  and 
Wisconsin,  the  Badger  state,  Minnesota  has  a  favorite  sobriquet  or  nick- 
name, the  Gopher  state.  Its  origin  has  been  given  by  the  late  Judge 
Flandrau,  who,  in  .his  "History  of  Minnesota,"  says  that  the  beaver,  as 
well  as  the  gopher,  was  advocated  to  give  such  a  popular  title.  The  latter 
gained  the  ascendancy,  soon  after  the  admission  of  Minnesota  to  state- 
hood, on  account  of  the  famous  "Gopher  cartoon,"  published  in  derision 
of  the  Five  Million  Loan  bill,  which  was  passed  by  the  first  state  legis- 
lature to  encourage  the  building  of  railroads.  The  striped  gopher,  eom- 
mon  throughout  our  prairie  region,  is  the  species  depicted  by  the  cartoon. 
(Minnesota,  in  Three  Centuries,  1908,  vol.  I,  pages  75-76.) 

Minnesota  is  also  often  called  the  North  Star  state,  in  allusion  to  the 
motto,  "L'  Etoile  du  Nord,"  chosen  by  Governor  Sibley  for  the  state 
seal  in  1858. 

Another  epithet  for  our  fertile  commonwealth  more  recently  came 
into  use  from  the  Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  1901, 
where  the  superior  exhibits  of  wheat,  flour,  and  dairy  products  of  Min- 
nesota caused  her  to  be  called  "the  Bread  and  Butter  state." 

The  Mississippi. 
The  chief  river  of  Minnesota,  and  indeed  of  North  America,  bears 
for  all  time  the  Algonquian  name  which  it  received  from  the  Ojibways 


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GENERAL  FEATURES  5 

who  paddled  their  birch  canoes  on  its  head  stream,  within  the  area  of 
this  state,  and  on  the  lakes  at  its  sources.  This  name,  Mississippi,  means 
simply  the  Great  River.  Such  it  is,  being  the  second  among  the  great 
rivers  of  the  world,  surpassed  only  by  the  Amazon, 

Jean  Nicolet,  the  first  white  explorer  of  Wisconsin,  in  the  winter  of 
1634-35,  went  from  Lake  Michigan  and  Green  bay  to  Lake  Winnebago 
and  the  upper  Fox  river,  and  learned  there  from  the  Indians  that  the 
sea,  as  he  understood  them  to  say,  was  within  three  days'  travel  farther 
to  the  southwest.    What  he  heard  of  was  the  Mississippi  river. 

It  was  first  made  known  by  name  bo  Europeans  in  the  Jesuit  Relation 
of  1666-67,  published  in  Paris  in  1668,  which  mentions  "the  great  river 
named  Messipi."  The  Relation  of  1670-71  gave  a  more  definite  descrip- 
tion as  follows :  'Tt  is  a  Southward  course  that  is  taken  by  the  great 
river  called  by  the  natives  Missisipi,  which  must  empty  somewhere  in 
the  region  of  the  Florida  sea.  more  than  fiour  hundred  leagues  hence 
(from  the  upper  Great  Lakes)  »  •  *  Some  Savages  have  assured  us 
that  this  is  so  noble  a  river  that,  at  more  than  three  hundred  leagues' 
distance  from  its  mouth,  it  is  larger  than  the  one  flowing  before  Quebec ; 
for  they  declare  that  it  is  more  than  a  league  wide  ["referring  probably 
to  its  expansion  in  Lake  Pepin].  They  also  state  that  all  this  vast  stretch 
of  country  consists  of  nothing  but  treeless  prairies," 

Earlier  names  had  been  given  by  the  Spaniards  to  this  river  in  its 
lower  part,  seen  by  their  expeditions.  Thus,  on  the  map  resulting  from 
Pineda's  exploration  of  the  Gulf  coast  in  1S19,  the  Mississippi  is  named 
Rio  del  Espiritu  Santo  (River  of  the  Holy  Spirit)  ;  and  it  continued  to 
be  commonly  or  frequently  mapped  under  that  name  until  its  present 
Algonquian  designation  was  generally  adopted. 

Father  Marquette,  writing  of  his  canoe  voyage  on  this  river  in  !673, 
with  Joliet,  called  it  the  Missisipi,  but  his  map  named  it  "R.  de  la  Con- 
ception." 

Hennepin,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  travels,  published  in  Paris  in  1683, 
called  the  Mississippi  the  River  Colbert,  for  the  great  French  statesman 
who  died  that  year,  and  so  mapped  it ;  but  later  editions  named  and 
mapped  it  as  "Le  Grand  Fleuve  Meschasipi," 

La  Salle,  writing  August  22,  1682,  designated  is  as  "the  river  Colbert, 
named  by  the  Iroquois  Gastacha,  and  by  the  Ottawas  the  Mississipy." 
Elsewhere,  however,  in  the  same  and  other  writings.  La  Salle  and  his 
companions  more  commonly  used  only  the  latter  name,  spelling  it 
MississipL 

Perrot,  after  spending  many  years  on  the  upper  part  of  this  river, 
in  his  Memoir  written  in  1718  or  within  two  or  three  years  later,  spoke 
of  "the  Micissypy,  which  is  now  named  the  Louistanne;"  and  a  French 
map  published  in  1718  gives  the  name  as  "the  Missisipi  or  St.  Louis." 

Carver,  who  traveled  into  the  area  of  Minnesota  in  1766,  described 
and  mapped  this  river  with   its  present  spelling,  Mississippi,  which  was 


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6  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

followed  by  Pike,  Cass  and  Schoolcraft,  Long  and  Keating,  Beltrami, 
and  all  later  writers.  Before  this  form  became  fully  established,  the 
name,  as  printed  in  books  and  maps,  had  many  variations,  which,  accord- 
ing to  an  estimate  by  Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  number  probably  thirty  or  more. 

The  first  part  of  the  name,  Missi,  means  Great,  being  akin  to  the 
modern  Ojibway  word,  Kitchi,  great,  or  Gitche,  as  it  is  spelled  by  Long- 
fellow in  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha" ;  and  the  second  part,  sippi,  other- 
wise spelled  sipi  or  sebc,  or  zibi,  is  the  common  Algonquian  or  Ojibway 
word  for  a  river.  This  name,  received  from  the  Ojibways  and  other 
Aigonquins  by  the  earliest  French  missionaries  and  traders  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  region,  though  used  by  these  Indians  only  for  the  upper  part 
of  the  river  as  known  to  them,  was  extended  by  Marquette  and  Joiiet 
and  by  La  Salle  to  its  entire  course,  displacing  the  numerous  former  In- 
dian names  which  had  been  applied  to  its  lower  part. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Gilfillan  wrote:  "Below  the  junction  of  Leech  Lake  river, 
it  is  called  Kitchi-zibi,  or  Great  river.  I  canniOt  find  by  inquiry  that  the 
Chippewas  have  ever  called  it  Missizibi  (Mississippi)  or  Missazibi.  But 
I  consider  it  very  probable  that  in  remote  times  they  did  for  Missa-zibi 
(Mississippi)  would  eicpress  the  same  idea  m  their  language  and  would 
be  proper  as  witness  Misiia  sagangun  (Mille  Lacs)  meanmg  Great  lake. 
It  so  exactly  corresponds  with  their  language  that  it  must  have  been' 
taken  from  it " 

Endeavoring  to  translate  more  fullj  the  aboriginal  significance  of 
Missi  Gannett  sa^s  that  Mississippi  means  great  water  or  gathering 
in  of  all  the  waters      and    an  almost  endless  mer  spread  cut 

The  phrase  Father  of  Witers  popularly  given  to  this  river  has  no 
warrant  in  the  Algonquian  name  In  1854  Schoolcraft  wrote  "The 
prefixed  word  Wissi  is  an  adjectue  denoting  all  and  when  applied  to 
various  waters  means  the  collected  or  assembled  mass  of  them  *  ♦  * 
It  IS  only  S}mibolically  that  it  can  be  called  the  Father  of  American  riv- 
ers  unless  such  sense  occurs  in  the  other  Indian  tongues 

Red  Lake  and  Ri\er 

Red  lake  is  translated  from  its  Ojibway  name  which  like  \  ermilion 
Jake  refers  to  the  red  and  i  ermilion  hues  of  the  smooth  water  surface 
reflecting  the  color  of  the  skv  at  sunset  on  calm  eienings  m  summer,  as 
noted  m  the  chapters  of  Red  Lake  county  and  St  Louia  county  The 
Red  mer  named  from  the  lake  is  the  boundarj  of  Minnesota  at  the 
west  side  of  six  counties  flowing  thence  to  Lake  Winnipeg  Its  more 
distinctive  name  Red  mer  of  the  North  was  used  by  Nicollet  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  Red  river  tributary  to  the  lower  Mississippi. 

An  exceedingh  flat  plain  adjoins  the  Red  ruer  ha\ing  an  impercep- 
tible descent  northward  as  also  from  each  side  to  its  central  line  Along 
the  axial  depression  the  mer  has  cut  a  channel  tnenty  to  sixtj  feet 
deep      It  is  bordered  by  only  few  and  narrow  areas  of  bottomland,  in- 


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GENERAL  FEATURES  7 

stead  of  which  its  banks  usually  rise  steeply  on  one  side,  and  by  mod- 
erate slopes  on  the  other,  to  the  broad  valley  plain  which  thence  reaches 
nearly  level  ten  to  twenty-five  miles  from  the  river.  This  vast  plain, 
lying  half  in  Minnesota  and  half  in  North  Dakota,  with  continuation 
into  Manitoba  and  so  stretching  from  Lake  Traverse  and  Breckenridge 
north  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  a  distance  of  300  miles,  is  the  widely  famed 
Red  River  Valley,  one  of  the  most  productive  wheat-raising  districts  of 
the  world. 

Glacial  Lake  Agassiz  and  Riveb  Warren. 

The  farmers  and  other  residents  of  this  fertile  plain  are  well  aware 
that  they  live  on  the  area  once  occupied  by  a  great  lake;  for  its  beaches, 
having  the  form  of  smoothly  rounded  ridges  of  gravel  and  sand,  a  few 
feet  high,  with  a  width  of  several  rods,  are  observable  extending  hori- 
zontally long  distances  upon  each  of  the  slopes  which  rise  east  and  west 
of  the  valley  plain.  ■  Hundreds  of  farmers  have  located  their  buildings 
on  the  beach  ridges  as  the  mcfst  dry  and  sightly  spots  on  their  land, 
affording  opportunity  for  perfectly  drained  cellars  even  in  the  most  wet 
spring  seasons,  and  also  yielding  to  wells,  dug  through  this  sand  and 
gravel,  better  water  than  is  usually  obtainable  in  wells  on  the  adjacent 
clay  areas. 

Numerous  explorers  of  this  region,  from  Long  and  Keating  in  1823, 
to  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren  in  1868  and  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  in  1872,  ob- 
served the  lacustrine  features  of  the  valley ;  and  the  last  named  geolo- 
gist first  gave  what  is  now  generally  accepted  as  the  true  explanation  of 
the  lake's  existence,  namely,  that  it  was  produced  in  the  closing  stage 
of  the  Glacial  period  by  the  dam  of  the  continental  ice-sheet  at  the  time 
of  its  final  melting  away.  As  the  border  of  the.  ice-sheet  retreated 
northward  along  the  valley,  drainage  from  It  oould  not  flow  as  now 
freely  to  the  north  through  Lake  Winnipeg  and  into  the  ocean  at  Hudson 
bay,  but  was  turned  southward  by  the  ice  barrier  to  the  lowest  place  on 
the  watershed  dividing  this  basin  from  that  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
lowest  point  is  found  at  Brown's  Valley,  on  the  western  boundary  of 
Minnesota,  where  an  ancient  watercourse,  about  125  feet  deep  and  one 
mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  extends  from  Lake  Traverse,  at  the 
head  of  the  Bois  des  Sioux,  a  tributary  of  the  Red  river,  to  Big  Stone 
lake,  through  which  the  head  stream  of  the  Minnesiota  river  passes  in 
its  course  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Detailed  exploration  of  the  shore  lines  and  area  of  this  lake  was 
begun  by  the  present  writer  for  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  in 
the  years  1879  to  1881,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Winchell,  the 
state  geologist.  In  subsequent  years  I  was  employed  in  tracing  the  lake 
shores  through  North  Dakota  for  the  United  States  Geological  Survey, 
and  through  southern  Manitoba  to  the  distance  of  100  miles  north  from 
the  international  boundary  to  Riding  mountain,  for  the  Geological  Survey 


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8  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

of  Canada.  For  the  last  named  survey,  also,  Mr.  J.  B.  Tyrrell  extended 
the  exploration  of  the  shore  lines  more  or  less  completely  for  200  miles 
farther  north,  along  the  Riding  and  Duck  mountains  and  the  Porcupine 
and  Pasquia  hills,  west  of  Lakes  Manitoba  and  Winnipegosis,  to  the 
SasRatchewan  river. 

This  glacial  lake  was  named  in  the  eighth  annual  report  of  the  Min- 
nesota Geological  Survey,  for  the  year  1879,  in  honor  lof  Louis  Agassiz, 
the  first  prominent  advocatr  of  the  theory  of  the  formation  of  the  drift 
by  land  ice.  The  outflowing  river,  whose  channel  is  now  occupied  l^ 
Lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  and  Brown's  Valley,  was  named,  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  at  its  Minneapolis  meeting  in  1883,  the  River  Warren,  in  com- 
memoration of  General  Warren's  admirable  work  in  the  United  Stales 
Engineering  Corps,  in  publishing  maps  and  reports  of  the  Minnesota  and 
Mississippi  river  surveys.  Descriptions  of  Lake  Agassiz  and  the  Rivet 
Warren  were  partly  given  in  the  eighth  and  eleventh  annual  reports  of 
the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  and  in  the  first,'  second,  and  fourth 
volumes  of  its  final  report.  Monc^raph  XXV  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  "The  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,"  published  in  1896,  treats  of  its  en- 
tire explored  extent  (658  pages,  with  many  maps).  Its  area  exceeded 
that  of  the  state  of  Minnesota,  being  about  110,000  square  mites,  or  more 
than  the  united  areas  of  the  five  Great  Lakes  that  outfiow  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  river. 

L         S  H      L  K  R 


north  side  is  shown  a=  mhabited  bj   the  Crees,     In  1737  and  1754  it 
3  mapped  as  Lac  des  Eois,  from  which  the  English  name  is  translated 


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GENERAL  FEATURES  9 

La  France  in  1740  recorded  its  aboriginal  names  in  translation  as 
'Laice  Da  Bois  or  Dee  Tsles"  that  is  the  Lake  of  the  Wood-i  or  of 
the  Islands  It  is  entirelj  surrounded  bj  woods  though  the  border  of 
the  great  prairie  region  is  not  far  westward  and  its  second  name  wa= 
given  for  the  rnultitude  of  islands  m  its  northern  part  The  Ojibwav 
name  ot  its  broad  southern  part  adjoining  Beltratni  and  Roseau  coun 
ties  as  noted  bv  Gdfillan  and  Verwjst  refers  to  the  sand  dunes  of  Oak 
point  and  Sable  island  at  the  mouth  of  Rainy  ri\er  whence  this  pari 
was  frequently  called  '^and  Hill  lake  by  the  earlj   fur  traders 

The  St  Ltiu  s  river  is  duh  noticed  for  the  oo-untv  named  from  it  with 
mention  of  its  earlier  French  name  as  the  river  ot  Fond  du  Lac  so  cal!ed 
because  there  the  series  of  falls  and  rapids  along  its  last  fifteen  miles 
descends  to  the  le^el  of  Like  Superior  The  Ojibwaja  name  it  Kitchi 
gumi  zibi  Lake  Superior  ruer 

Cass  lake  early  known  as  Red  Cedar  hke  in  tran:,htion  from  the 
Oibwa^s  was  renamed  m  honor  -of  General  Lewis  Cass  who  with 
Schoolcraft  as  historian  of  his  expedition  \isited  it  in  1820  regarding  it 
as  the  chief  source  of  the  Mississippi  He  is  also  commemorated  by  Cass 
countj  for  which  the  names  of  this  lake  and  of  Yi  innebagoahish  and 
Leech  lakes  are  fully  noticed. 

Thief  river  Jying  mostly  m  Marshall  county  and  haung  its  siurce  in 
Thief  lake  is  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name  which  is  explained  for 
the  city  at  its  mouth  Thief  Rn  er  Falls   m  Pennington  county 

Clearwater  river  lying  m  three  counties  one  of  uhich  bears  this 
name  is  again  a  translation  from  the  Ojibwava  like  Eau  CHire  of  the 
same  meaning  which  designates  a  river  a  countv  and  it  city  and  county 
seat   in  Wisconsin 

The  A\ild  Rice  river  and  the  hkes  so  named  near  its  source  arc 
translations  from  Manomin  or  Mahnomen  the  native  grain  much  used 
and  highly  prized  In  the  Ojibway  people  as  a  staple  part  of  their  food 
noted  more  m  detail  tor  Mahnomen  county 

Crow  Wmg  river  and  the  countv  named  from  it  present  another 
translation  from  these  Indians  for  the  outline  of  an  island  at  the  junc 
tion  of  this  river  with  the  Mississippi  which  they  fancifully  compared 
with  the  wmg  of  a  raven  Farther  south  on  the  boundari  between 
Wright  and  Hennepin  counties  they  applied  to  the  Crow  mer  a  different 
name  correctls  designating  our  American  crow  the  marauder  of  newlv 
planted  cornfields  These  names  with  the  Ojibway  words  from  which 
they  were  translated  are  again  noticed  m  the  chapter  of  Crow  Wing 
county 

Sauk  river  in  Todd  and  Stearns  counties,  Osakis  lake  at  its  source, 
lying  partly  in  Douglas  county,  and  the  villages  and  cities  of  Osakis,  Sauk 
Center,  and  Sauk  Rapids,  the  last  being  on  the  east  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  Sauk  river,  derived  their  names  from 
a  small  party  of  Sac  or  Sauk  Indians,  who  came  as  refugees  from  their 


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10  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

own  country  in  Wisconsin  and  lived  near  Osaiiis  lake,  as  related  for  the 
township  and  village  o£  Sauk  Rapids  in  Benton  county. 

Mille  Lacs,  as  named  by  the  French,  meaning  "a  thousand  lakes,"  bore 
a  Sioux  name,  Mde  Wakan,  nearly  like  Mini  Wakan,  their  equivalent 
name  which  is  translated  Spirit  lake  in  Iowa.  Its  Ojibway  name  is  Minsi 
or  Missi  sagaigon,  as  spelled  respectively  by  Nicollet  in  1843  and  De  L' 
Isle  in  1703,  meaning  Great  lake,  just  as  the  Mississippi  is  the  Great  river. 
These  names  are  more  elaborately  reviewed  in  the  chapter  for  Mille  Lacs 
county,  which  also  notes  the  origin  of  the  name  Rum  river,  the  outlet 
of  this  lake. 

Kettle  river,  in  Carlton  and  Pine  counties,  is  noticed  for  the  latter  in 
explanation  of  the  name  of  Kettle  River  township. 

The  Pine  lakes  and  river  and  the  Ojibway  village  of  Chengwatana, 
meaning  Pine  village,  gave  the  names  of  Pine  county  and  Pine  City,  its 
county  seat. 

Snake  river  is  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name,  Kanabec  sibi,  which 
has  several  other  spellings.  Kanabec,  retained  as  the  designation  of  a 
county,  with  its  accent  on  the  second  syllable,  is  widely  different  in  both 
pronunciation  and  meaning  from  the  Kennebec  river  In  Maine. 

St.  Croix  river,  which,  with  the  expansion  of  its  lowest  twetlfti  tnilis 
In  Lake  St.  Ox-ix,  forms  tile  boundary  of  this  stale  on  the  east  side  ef 
Pine,  Chisago,  and  Washington  counties,  was  called  tlie  River  du  Toiri' 
beau  (Tomb  or  Grave  river)  by  Hennepin  in  1680,  "R.  de  la  Magdeleine" 
on  Franquelin's  map  in  1688,  and  the  River  St.  Croix  (Holy  Cross)  by 
Perrot's  proclamation  in  1689  and  by  the  Relation  of  Penicaut  in  1700. 
A  cross  had  been  set  at  its  mouth,  as  noted  by  Penicaut,  probably  to 
mark  the  grave  of  some  French  trader  or  voyageur.  La  Harpe,  writing 
of  Le  Sueur's  expedition  In  1700,  which  was  the  theme  of  Penicaut's 
Relation,  described  this  stream  as  "a  great  river  called  St,  Croix,  because 
a  Frenchman  of  that  name  was  wrecked  at  its  mouth." 

Lake  Pepin  bears  this  name  on  De  L'  Isle's  map  of  Canada  or  New 
France,  published  in  1703.  It  may  have  been  chosen,  as  stated  by  Gan- 
nett, in  honor  of  Pepin  le  Bref,  king  of  the  Franks,  who  was  born  in  714 
and  died  in  768.  He  was  a  son  of  Charles  Martel,  and  was  the  father  of 
Charlemagne.  Very  probably  the  name  was  placed  on  the  map  by  De  L' 
Isle  under  request  of  his  patron,  the  king  of  France.  Pepin  was  an  in- 
frequent personal  surname  among  the  French  settlers  of  Canada,  whence 
many  explorers  and  traders  came  to  this  region,  but  history  has  failed 
to  record  for  whom  and  why  this  large  lake  of  the  Mississippi  was  so 
named.  Hennepin,  in  his  narration  and  map,  had  called  it  Lac  des 
Pleurs  (Lake  of  Tears),  because  there,  as  he  wrote,  some  of  the  Sioux 
by  whom  he  had  been  taken  captive,  with  his  companions,  "wept  the  whole 
night,  to  induce  the  others  to  consent  to  our  death."  Penicaut  named  it 
Lac  Bon  Secours,  meaning  Lake  Good  Help,  apparently  in  allusion  fo 
the  abundance  of  buffaloes  and  other  game  found  in  its  vicinity.    This 


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.  GENERAL  FEATURES  11 

name,  Bon  Secours,  and  another  Ruer  dei  Boeuf^  that  is  Ruer  of 
Buffaloes,  were  early  applied  to  the  Chippewa  river  m  Vi  isconsin  which 
was  the  geologic  cause  of  Lake  Pepm  bj  bnngins  much  alluvium  into 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  below  the  lake  It';  or%in  was  thus  like  that 
of  Lake  St.  Croix,  and  like  Lac  qui  Parle  on  the  Minnesota  n\er 

Cannon  river,  joining  the  Mississippi  at  the  head  of  Lake  Pepin    ij 
hdfm-lFh  R  C  Coe 

aU  ca 


)  -06  Lo 


g  th      m  F 

th  m       D 

Beside  the  Zumbro  ra  Goodhue  countj,  the  township  and  village  of 
Pine  Island  recall  its  Sioux  name,  Waii  Oj'u,  as  the  river  Is  called  on 
Nicollet's  map,  signifying  Pines  Planted,  in  allusion  to  the  grove  of  large 
white  pines  adjoining  this  village. 

Root  river,  the  most  southeastern  large  tributary  to  the  Mississippi 
in  this  state,  rising  in  Mower  county  and  flowing  through  Olmsted,  Fill- 


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12  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

more,  and  Houston  counties,  was  called  Racine  river  by  Pike,  Root  river 
by  Long  in  1817,  and  botli  its  Sioux  name,  Hokah,  and  the  English  trans- 
lation, Root,  are  used  in  Keating's  Narrative  of  Long's  expedition  in 
1823.  With  more  strictly  accurate  spelling  and  pronunciation,  the  Sioux 
or  Dakota  word  is  Hutkan,  meaning  Racine  in  the  French  language  and 
Root  in  English,  while  the  Sioux  word  Hokah  means  a  heron.  Racine 
township  and  railway  village  in  Mower  county,  and  Hokah,  similarly  the 
name  of  a  township  and  village  in  Houston  county,  were  derived  from 
the  river. 

Tributaries  of  the  Minnesota  river  to  be  mentioned  here  are  the 
Pomme  de  Terre  and  Chippewa  rivers,  from  the  north ;  the  Lac  qtii  Parle 
river,  having  the  French  name  of  a  lake  through  which  the  Minnesota 
flows,  and  the  Yellow  Medicine,  Redwood,  Cottonwood,  and  Blue  Earth 
rivers,  from  the  southwest  and  south ;  and  Watonwan  and  Le  Sueur 
rivers,  which  flow  into  the  Blue  Earth.  Each  of  these  streams,  except- 
.  ing  the  first,  is  most  fully  noticed  for  a  county  bearing  its  name ;  and 
the  Pomme  de  Terre  lake  and  river,  translated  l^  the  French  from  the 
Sioux,  are  noticed  for  a  township  so  named  in  Grant  county.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  our  names  of  all  these  rivers,  excepting  Le  Sueur,  which 
commemorates  the  early  French  explorer,  were  originally  received  from 
the  Sioux  or  Dakota  people,  who  had  long  inhabited  this  part  of  Min- 
nesota when  the  first  explorers  and  settlers  came.  Only  Watonwan, 
however,  retains  its  form  as  a  Sioux  word. 

Four  streams  that  have  their  sources  in  this  state  and  flow  into  Iowa, 
namely,  the  Rock,  Des  Moines,  Cedar,  and  Upper  Iowa  rivers,  will  com- 
plete this  list 

Rock  river,  translated  frcim  its  Sioux  name,  refers  to  the  prominent 
rock  hill,  commonly  now  called  "the  Mound,"  which  rises  precipitously 
west  of  this  river  in  Mound  township  of  Rock  county,  the  most  south- 
western in  Minnesota.  Both  tlie  township  and  ooainty,  like  the  river, 
were  named  for  this  high  outcrop  of  red  quartzite.  The  same  rock  for- 
mation, continuing  north  in  Pipestone  county,  includes  the  renowned 
Pipestone  Quarry,  whence  came  the  names  of  that  county,  its  county 
seat,  and  the  creek  that  flows  past  the  quarry. 

The  Des  Moines  river  flows  through  Murray,  Cottonwood,  and  Jack- 
son counties,  thence  crosses  iowa,  gives  its  name  to  the  capital  of  that 
state,  and  joins  the  Mississippi  at  its  southeast  corner.  Franquelin  in 
1688  and  De  L'  Isle  in  1703  mapped  it  as  "R.  des  Moingona,'*  the  name 
being  taken  from  an  Indian  village,  Moingona,  shown  by  Franquelin  not 
far  from  the  site  of  the  present  village  of  this  name  in  Boone  county, 
near  the-  center  of  Iowa,  The  name  was  spelled  by  Pike  as  De  Moyen 
and  Des  Moyan ;  Long  called  it  De  Moyen ;  and  Beltrami,  Le  Moine  and 
Monk  river.  It  has  three  names  on  Nicollet's  map :  "Inyan  Shasha  of 
the  Sioux,"  meaning  Red  Stone,  in  allusion  to  its  flowing  through  a  gorge 
of  red  sandstone  in  Marion  county,  Iowa;  "Moingonan  of  the  Algonkins," 


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GENERAL  FEATURES  13 

from  the  early  maps ;  and  "Des  Moines  of  the  French,"  meaning  the 
River  of  the  Monks.  The  third  name,  which  has  been  too  long  in  tise 
to  be  changed,  is  an  erroneous  translation  by  the  early  traders,  based 
merely  on  the  pronunciation  of  the  old  Algonquian  name.  An  interesting 
paper  on  its  origin,  by  Dr.  Charles  R.  Keyes,  is  in  the  Annals  of  Iowa 
(third  series,  vol.  Ill,  pages  554-9,  with  three  maps,  Oct,  1898). 

Cedar  river,  flowing  from  Dodge  and  Mower  counties  in  this  state, 
is  the  longest  stream  of  northeastern  Iowa.  Like  the  Missouri  river, 
which  exceeds  the  upper  Mississippi  in  length,  it  is  tributary  to  a  shorter 
stream,  the  Iowa  river,  about  twenty-five  miles  above  the  junction  of  the 
latter  with  the  Mississippi.  Red  cedar  trees,  whose  fragrant  red  wood 
is  much  esteemed  for  chests  and  other  furniture,  growing  in  many  places 
along  the  bluffs  of  this  river,  supplied  its  aboriginal  name,  translated 
by  Nicollet  and  on  present  maps  as  Red  Cedar  river.  Its  upper  part,  in 
this  state,  is  more  commonly  called  simply  Cedar  river;  and  its  two 
chief  cities,  in  Iowa,  are  named  Cedar  Rapids  and  Cedar  Falls.  The 
same  name,  Red  Cedar,  was  derived  in  translation  from  the  Ojibways 
for  the  lake  of  the  upper  Mississippi  renamed  as  Cass  lake,  and  for  the 
present  Cedar  lake  in  Aitkin  county,  besides  numerous  other  relatively 
small  lakes,  streams,  and  islands,  in  various  parts  of  Minnesota.  Far 
northward  the  full  name  Red  Cedar  was  used  in  distinction  from  the 
arbor  vitae,  which  often  is  called  white  cedar,  having  similarly  durable 
wood  of  a  light  color. 

Upper  Iowa  river  begins  in  Mower  county,  runs  meanderingly  along 
parts  of  the  south  line  of  Fillmore  counfy,  and  passes  southeast  and  east 
in  Iowa  to  the  Mississippi  near  the  northeast  corner  of  that  state,  which 
is  named  from  the  larger  Iowa  river  flowing  past  Iowa  Falls  and  Iowa 
City.  The  application  of  the  name  to  a  district  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  later  to  the  territory  and  state,  as  first  used  for  the  district  by  Lieu- 
tenant Albert  M,  Lea  in  1836,  has  been  well  told  by  Prof.  Benjamin  F. 
Shambaugh  in  the  volume  of  Annals  of  Iowa  before  cited  for  the  Des 
Moines  river  (third  series.  Ill,  641-4,  Jan.,  1899),  with  fourteen  refer- 
ences to  preceding  papers  and  books  that  treat  of  the  origin  of  the  state 
name.  It  was  originally  the  name  of  a  Siouan  tribe  living  there,  whose 
hunting  grounds  extended  north  to  the  Blue  Earth  and  Minnesota  rivers 
at  the  time  of  Le  Sueur's  expedition  in  1700-01.  Their  tribal  name, 
spelled  in  many  ways,  was  translated  "sleepy  ones"  by  Riggs,  being  analo- 
gous with  the  name  of  the  Sioux  chief  Sleepy  Eye,  who  is  commemo- 
rated by  a  city  in  Brown  county.  The  Handbook  of  American  Indians 
gives  raore  than  seventy-five  variations  in  the  former  spelling  of  the 
name  that  now  is  established  in  common  use  as  Iowa  (Part  I,  1907,  page 
614). 


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AITKIN  COUNTY 

This  county  established  Maj  2j  185/  and  organized  June  30,  1871, 
was  named  for  William  Alexander  \itkin  a  tur  trader  with  the  Ojibway 
Indiajis  He  was  born  m  Scotland  in  1785;  came  from  Edinburgh  to 
America  in  his  boyhood  and  about  the  jear  1802  came  to  the  Northwest, 
being  in  the  service  of  a  trider  mmed  lohn  Drew.  Aitkin  married  into 
an  influential  Indian  familj  Mas  soon  a  trader  on  his  own  account;  and 
rapidly  advanced  until  in  1831  he  took  charge  of  the  Fond  du  Lac  de- 
partment of  the  '\merican  Fur  Companj  under  John  Jacob  Astor,  with 
headquarters  at  Sandy  Lake  in  this  county  adjoining  the  east  side  of  the 
Mississippi  river  He  died  September  i6  18S1,  and  is  buried  on  the  east 
b^^k  jf  the  Mississippi  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  Swan  river,  in  Morrison 
county  where  he  had  a  trading  post  during  his  last  nine  years,  after  1842. 

The  name  of  Aitkin  county  was  at  hrst  erroneously  spelled  Aiken, 
with  which  it  is  identical  in  pronunciation  and  it  was  changed  to  its  pres- 
ent spelling  m  1872  bj  an  act  of  the  legislature. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  of  tiownship  names  was  received  from 
Thomas  R.  Foley,  Jr.,  real  estate  and  insurance  agent,  and  Carl  E. 
Taylor,  court  commissioner,  both  of  Aitkin,  during  a  visit  there  in  May, 
1916. 

Aitkin  township  bears  the  same  name  as  the  county.  Its  village,  also 
bearing  this  name,  was  founded  in  1870,  as  a  station  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  railroad,  which  in  that  year  was  built  through  the  county;  and  the 
next  year,  in  the  county  organization,  it  was  made  the  county  seat. 

Bain  township,  and  its  railway  station  of  the  same  name,  are  in  honor 
ot  William  Bain,  the  hotel  owner,  who  is  tme  of  the  proprietors  of  the 

Ball  Bluff  township  should  be  Bald  Bluff,  being  for  the  conspicuous 
morainic  drift  Wll  so  named,  having  a  bald  grassy  top  without  trees,  in 
section  32  of  this  township,  at  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi. 

Balsam  township  is  from  two  species  of  trees  that  are  common  or 
frequent  in  this  county,  the  balsam  fir  and  the  balsam  poplar. 

BfiAvER  was  named  for  beavers  and  their  dania,  found  by  the  earliest 
settlers  on  the  head  streams  of  Split  Rock  river,  in  the  south  part  of 
this  township. 

Clark  township  had  early  settlers  of  this  name,  one  being  Frank 
Clark,  who  removed  to  McGregor. 

Cornish  was  named  for  Charles  E.  and  Milo  F.  Cornish,  settlers  in 
section  34  of  this  township,  coming  from  southern  Minnesota. 


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AITKIN  COUNTY  15 

Damdson  it  ioT  A  D  Davidson  senior  partner  m  the  Ddiidson  and 
McRae  Stock  Farm  Companv  of  Duiuth  and  later  of  \\  innipeg  owners 
of  numerous  tracts  of  land  in  thi^  township  He  died  in  Rochester 
Minn    April    1916 

Dick  township  was  named  in  honor  ot  Mias  Mildred  Dick  assistant 
in  the  office  of  the  county  auditor 

EsQo^GAMAH  townahip  derived  its  name  from  F^quagamah  lake 
crossed  bj  its  eait  aide  This  is  an  Ojibwa-v  name  meaning  the  last 
lake  given  to  it  as  the  last  and  most  western  m  a  series  ot  three  lakes 
bmg  mainlj  in  Waukenabo  township  which  ib  named  for  the  most  eastern 
of  these  lakes 

Farm  Island  township  is  from  its  lake  of  this  name  having  an  island 
of  29  acres   on  which  the  Ojibwayi  formerly  had  large  cultivated  fields 

Flemiko  town'ihip  ha^  Fleming  lake  in  section  23  named  for  an  early 
settler  there 

GLbfj  bears  a  euphonious  name  -ieleaed  bj  its  settleri;  at  the  time  of 
the  township  organization 

H\LGEN  township  is  named  m  honor  of  Chn'^tophLr  G  Haugen 
former  sherifl  of  this  countv 

Hazelton  is  for  Cutler  J  Hazelton  i  ftrmer  countv  commissioner 
whose  homestead  wa^  on  Pine  lake  in  this  township  Lutler  post  office 
on  the  south  side  of  tl  is  lake    was  also  named  for  him 

\ichola  pest  office  beside  Mille  Lacs  m  the  southwest  corner  of 
Hazelton  was  named  for  Austin  R  Nichols  its  postmaster  who  settled 
there  m  1879  \  biographic  sketch  is  given  under  the  citv  of  Austin 
Mower  C3unt\    also  named  m  his  honor 

Hebron  township  was  doubtless  named  b\  settlers  coming  from  a 
town  of  this  name  in  some  eastern  state  The  original  Hehrtn  is  a  \ery 
ancient  town  m  Palestine 

Hill  Lake  township  and  its  village  named  Hill  Cifj  as  als  its  Hill 
lake  are  all  so  designated  from  the  prominent  hill  of  morainic  drift  in 
section  25  Thi=  is  the  culminating  point  of  a  \ery  knoUj  and  broken 
tract  of  the  same  moraine  extending  into  the  adjoining  sections  So  which 
locality  and  especialh  to  its  h  ghest  part  the  Ojibwaja  applied  the  name 
Pikwadina  (or  Piquadinaw)  it  is  hilh  Hence  came  the  common  name 
'Poquodenaw  mountain  used  by  the  lumbermen  and  guen  to  this  hill 
on  the  map  of  Aitkin  cnnnty  in  the  Minnesota  Geological  Surges 

Idun  township  IS  named  for  a  place  in  Sweden. 

JcVNE  township  bears  the  surname  of  a  Scandinavian  family  early 
settling  there. 

Jewett  township  honors  D.  M.  Jewett,  a  pioneer  in  section  20. 

KiMBERLY  township  was  named  from  its  station  established  when  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  was  built  in  1870,  in  honor  of  Moses  C.  Kim- 
berly,  of  St.  Paul.  He  was  born  in  Sandisfield,  Mass.,  December  1,  184S; 
came  to  Minnesota  in  1870,  as  a  surveyor  and  engineer  for  this  railnoad ; 
was  during  many  years  its  general  superintendent. 


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16  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Lakeside  township  is  at  the  east  side  of  Mtlle  Lacs. 

Lee  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Olaf  Lee,  a  pioneer  Norwegian 
farmer  in  section  18. 

Le  May  township  was  named  for  Frank  Le  May,  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers. 

LiBBY  township  is  for  Mark  Libby,  who  long  ago  was  a  fur  trader 
chere  with  the  Indians,  on  the  outlet  of  Sandy  lake. 

Logan  township  was  named  for  the  long  and  narrow  lakes,  often 
shaped  tike  a  horseshoe  or  ox-bow,  which  lie  in  abandoned  parts  of  the 
(A&  channels  of  the  Mississippi,  occurring  frequently  in  this  and  other 
townships.  For  these  lakes  of  the  alluvial  land  adjoining  the  river  the 
name  "logans"  has  been  in  common  use  in  Aitkin  county  difring  the  fifty 
years  or  more  since  the  region  was  first  invaded  by  lumbermen.  (Geology 
of  Minn.,  vol.  IV,  pages  26-27.) 

McGbegor  township  was  named  after  the  station  and  village  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  in  section  31,  which  also  became  a  station  and 
junction  of  the  Soo  line. 

Macville  township  is  for  pioneer  Scotch  settlers  there  named  McAninch 
and  McPheters. 

Malmo  township  is  named  for  the  large  city  of  Malmo  in  southern 
Sweden,  on  the  Sound  opposite  to  Copenhagen. 

MiLLWARD  township  was  named  for  one  of  its  early  settlers. 

Morrison  township  was  named  for  Edward  Morrison,  one  of  its 
pioneer  farmers. 

NoEDLAND  township  bears  the  name  of  a  large  district  in  northern 
Norway. 

Pliny   township   has   the  name  of  a  celebrated  naturalist   of  ancient 

QOADNA  (each  syllable  having  the  sound  of  a  in  fall)  is  shortened  from 
the  earlier  name  of  Piquadinaw,  lirst  given  to  this  township  on  account 
of  its  tracts  of  knoUy  and  hilly  drift  extending  eastward  from  the  high 
hill  so  named  by  the  Ojibways,  as  before  mentioned,  in  HiH  Lake  township. 

Rice  River  township  received  its  name  from  its  being  crossed  by  the 
head  streams  of  the  Rice  river,  named,  like  the  large  Rice  lake,  from  wild 
rice  (Zizania  aquatica),  which  was  harvested  by  the  Indians  as  a  very 
valuable  natural  food  supply. 

Salo  township  was  named  by  its  Finn  settlers  for  a  town  in  south- 
western Finland. 

Seavey  township  was  named  for  a  family  residing  in  Aitkin,  one  of 
whom.  Frank  E.  Seavey,  has  been  durii^  many  years  the  clerk  of  the 
county  court. 

Shamrock  was  named  by  Irish  settlers  for  the  trifoliate  plant  long 
agvj  chosen  as  the  national  emblem  of  Ireland. 

Shovel  Lake  township  and  its  railway  station  were  named  for  Shovel 
lake,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  the  township. 


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AITKIN  COUNTY  17 

Spalding  township  was  named  in  honor  of  John  L.  Spalding,  former 
treasurer  of  this  county. 

Spencer  township  is  for  William  Spencer,  who  was  a  druggist  in 
Aitkin,  but  removed  to  Texas. 

Tamarack  is  a  village  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  in  Clark  town- 
ship. 

TxTRNER  township  is  for  L.  E.  Turner,  formerly  a  county  commissioner. 

V  RDo    t         h'        d       t    ffi  d  f      Verdon  Wells  son  of 

B  W 

W  ffi 


Atki 

W08 
who  later  removed  from  the  county. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

Nicollet's  map,  published  in  1843,  gives  the  following  names  of  lakes 
and  streams  partly  or  wholly  within  the  area  of  Aitkin  county,  as  they 
have  since  continued  in  use;  the  Mississippi  river.  Willow  and  Little 
WJlJow  rivers,  West  and  East  Savanna  rivers.  Lake  Aitkin,  Sandy  lake, 
jnd  Mille  Lacs, 

Other  names  which  survive  with  slight  changes  from  that  map  are 
Prairie  river,  tributary  to  the  West  Savanna,  called  Little  Prairje  river 
by  Nicollet;  Mud  lake  and  river,  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  at  Aitkin, 
which  were  called  Muddy  lakes  and  river;  and  Cedar  lake,  Nicollet's  Red 
Ce-lar  lake,  which  Pike  in  1805-06  called  the  Lower  Red  Cedar  lake  (to 
distinguish  it  from  the  Upper  Red  Cedar  lake,  far  up  the  Mississippi, 
renamed  in  1820  Lake  Cassina,  now  Cass  lake). 

The  very  elaborate  "Historico-Geographical  Chart  of  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi River,"  published  by  Dr.  Elliott  Coues  in  1895  with  his  annotated 
edition  of  Pike's  Expeditions,  includes  interesting  notes  of  successive 
geographic  names  and  their  dates  in  Aitkin  county. 


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18  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Willow  river  was  called  Alder  river  by  Schoolcraft  in  1820  and  like- 
wise in  1855.  It  flows  through  a  nearly  level  and  largely  swampy  area, 
which  bears  abundant  willows  and  alders.  Its  Ojibway  name  is  translated 
Willow  river  by  Gilfillan. 

West  Savanna  river  was  so  called  in  1820  by  Schoolcraft.  The  Savanna 
rivers,  West  and  East,  retain  these  names  as  given  by  the  early  French 
voyageurs ;  hut  this  word,  nearly  equivalent  to  prairie,  was  originally 
of  American  origin.  It  was  a  Carib  word,  and  was  introduced  into  Euro- 
pean languages  by  Spanish  writers  near  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  By  the  Ojibways  the  East  Savanna  river  was  named  Mushki- 
gonigumi  sibi,  "the  marsh-portage  river,"  having  reference  to  the  very 
marshy  portage  made  on  this  much  used  canoe  route  in  passing  to  the 
West  Savanna  river  and  Sandy  lake. 

The  early  French  name  of  Sandy  lake  was  Lac  au  Sahie  or  du  Sable. 
The  French  and  English  alike  translated  it  from  the  Ojibway  name, 
recorded  by  both  Gilfilian  and  Verwyst  as  Ga-mitawangagumag  Sagaiigiin, 
"the-p!ace-of -bare-sand  lake."  The  Northwest  Company  established  a 
trading  post  on  the  west  shore  of  this  lake  in  1794,  which  was  visited  by 
David  Thompson  in  1798  and  by  Pike  in  January,  1806;  but  before  the 
time  of  Aitkin's  taking  charge  there  in  1831  the  old  post  had  been  aban- 
doned for  a  new  site  at  the  mouth  of  the  outlet  of  Sandy  lake,  on  the 
narrow  point  between  the  outlet  and  the  Mississippi  river. 

Rice  river  and  its  tributary  Rice  lake  (named  Lake  Dodge  by  Nicollet, 
probably  for  Governor  Henry  Dodge  of  Wisconsin),  also  another  Rice 
lake,  of  very  irregular  outline,  lying  close  south  of  Sandy  lake,  received 
their.names,  as  before  noted  in  connection  with  Rice  River  towtiship,  from 
their  large  and  valuable  supplies  of  the  excellent  native  grain  called  wild 
rice.  The  Ojibway  name  of  the. wild  rice,  Manomin,  is  applied  to  this 
stream  on  Nicollet's  map,  in  the  common  form  of  its  spelling  as  given  in 
Baraga's  Dictionary.  Another  form  is  Mahnomen,  given  to  a  county  of 
this  state.  Its  French  translation  is  Folic  Avoine,  meaning  in  our  lan- 
guage "false  or  fool  oat,"  nearly  like  the  name,  "Wild  Oats  river,"  used 
for  this  Rice  river  by  Beltrami  Jn  1823. 

White  Elk  brook  or  creek,  like  the  township  of  this  name,  is  so  called, 
in  the  Ojibway  usage,  for  the  lake  of  its  source. 

Moose  river,  tributary  to  Willow  river,  is  translated  from  its  Ojibway 
name,  given  by  Gilfillan  as  Moz-oshtigwani  sibi,  Moosehead  river.  It 
receives  the  outflow  of  several  small  lakes,  of  which  the  most  eastern, 
called  Moose  lake,  in  Macville,  has  been  mainly  drained. 

Little  Willow  river  is  named,  like  the  larger  stream  that  often  is  called 
Big  Willow  river,  for  its  plentiful  willows. 

Sisabagama  lake  (accented  on  the  middle  syllable,  with  the  long  vowel 
sound)  and  the  outflowing  creek  or  river  of  the  same  name,  close  east 
of  Aitkin,  have  had  various  spellings.  Gilfillan  spelled  and  defined  this 
Ojibway  name  as  Sesabeguma  lake,  "Every-which-way  lake,  or  the  lake 


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20  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Farm  Island  lake  gave  its  name  to  that  township,  iti  allusion  to  the 
farming  by  Ojibways.  The  outflowine  Mud  river  passes  in  the  next  two 
miles  through  Pine,  Hickory,  and  Spirit  lakes,  which  in  the  latest  atlas 
are  shown  to  be  connected  by  straits,  so  that  they  might  be  termed  a  series 
of  three  bays  continuous  with  the  first  named  large  lake. 

Fleming,  French,  Jenkins,  and  Wilklns  lakes,  in  Fleming  township, 
are  probably  named  for  early  settlers,  trappers  and  hunters,  or  lumbermen. 
A  larger  lake  of  this  group,  now  named  Gun  lake,  was  formerly  called 
Lake  Manomin  {i.  e,.  Wild  Rice). 

Hanging  Kettle  lake,  translated  from  its  Ojibway  aame,  in  sectiMis 
13  and  14,  Farm  Island  township,  is  connected  eastward  by  straits  with 
Diamond  and  Mud  lakes. 

Horseshoe  lake,  in  sections  23  and  24,  Shamrock,  is  named  for  its 
curved  shape. 

Island  lake,  in  sections  11  to  14,  Turner,  has  a  large  central  island. 

Lone  lake,  in  sections  29  and  30,  Nordland,  has  no  visible  outlet;  but  it 
probably  supplies  the  water  of  large  chalybeate  springs  which  issue  close 
south  of  the  road  near  the  middle  of  the  soath  side  of  Mud  lake. 

Mallard  lake,  in  section  2,  Hazelton,  formerly  called  Rice  lake,  is 
named  for  its  mallard  ducks. 

Nelson  and  Douglas  lakes,  section  23,  Clark,  now  drained  away,  were 
named  for  M.  Nelson  and  K  Douglas,  owners  of  adjoining  lands. 

The  name  of  Nord  lake,  in  Nordland,  is  of  similar  origin  with  the 
township  name,  meaning  north  and  given  by  Norwegian  settlers. 

Pine  lake,  named  for  its  pine  woods,  in  Hazelton  township,  was  earlier 
known  as  Hazelton  lake  or  Echo  lake. 

Portage  lake,  section  6,  Davidson,  was  at  the  end  of  a  portage  on  a 

Rabbit  lake,  in  Glen  township,  has  high  shores  of  irregular  outlines, 
an  excellent  hunting  ground. 

Rat  lake,  in  Workman,  and  Rat  House  lake,  in  sections  26  and  35, 
Cornish,  ate  named  for  their  muskrats. 

Sugar  lake,  in  Malmo,  is  named  for  its  sugar  maple  trees,  this  species 
having  been  much  used  by  the  Ojibways  for  sugar-making. 

Twenty  lake,  in  Malmo,  is  named  from  the  number  of  its  section. 

Vladimirof  lake,  mainly  in  section  10,  Nordland,  was  formerly  known 
as  Section  Ten  lake,  but  has  been  renamed  for  a  settler  who  owns  lands 
close  north  and  east  of  the  lake. 

This  county  also  has  the  following  names  of  lakes,  which  are  of  fre- 
quent occurrence  elsewhere, 

Bass  lake,  in  section  28,  Aitkin;  another  of  this  name  in  section  10, 
Farm  Island  (lately  renamed  as  Hamraal  lake)  ;  and  a  third  Bass  lake 
in  section  19,  Turner.    ' 

Long  lake,  in  Glen  township. 


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AITKIN  COUNTY  21 

Mud  lake,  in  Nordland;  another  in  thS  north  part  of  Logan;  and  a 
third  and  fourth  in  section  10,  McGr^or,  and  sections  14  and  23,  White 
Elt 

Otter  lake,  in  section  34,  LeMay;  and  another  in  section  9,  Logan. 

Pickerel  lake,  in  section  27,  Aitkin. 

Round  lake,  in  section  31,  Hazelton ;  another  in  Jevne ;  a  third,  crossed 
by  the  line  between.  Haugen  and  Shamrock;  and  a  fourth  between  Wau- 
kenabo  and  Esquagamah  lakes. 

Glacial  Lake  Aitkin. 

In  the  village  of  Aitkin  and  westward  a  beach  ridge  of  gravel  and  sand, 
having  a  height  of  three  to  five  feet,  marks  the  south  shore  of  a  glacial 
lake  which  existed  during  a  geologically  very  short  time  in  the  broad 
aiid  shallow  depression  of  this  part  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  It  was  first 
described  and  mapped  by  the  present  writer  in  Volume  IV  of  the  Final 
Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota,  published  in  1899,  being 
then  known  to  extend  from  the  edge  of  Crow  Wing  county  eastward  and 
northward  in  Aitkin,   Spencer,  and  Morrison  townships. 

Later  and  more  detailed  examinations,  by  Leverett  and  Sardeson,  show 
that  this  glacial  lake  reached  northward  along  the  Mississippi  fo  the  mouth 
of  Swan  river,  in  the  north  edge  of  Aitkin  county  {Bulletin  No.  13, 
Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  published  in  1917).  The  length  of  Glacial 
Lake  Aitkin  was  about  fifty  miles,  but  it  had  only  a  slight  depth  of  water, 
nowhere  exceeding  twenty  feet,  above  the  Mississippi,  Willow,  and  Rice 
rivers,  and  above  the  Sandy  river  and  lake. 


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ANOKA  COUNTY 


D  m  P  W  W 


R  N 


g  -rf 

gi  Bar  Oct 


Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  has  been  gathered  from  the  "History  of 
the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley,"  I88I,  in  which  Anoka  county  and  its  civil 
divisions  are  treated  in  pages  222-293;  from  the  "History  of  Anoka 
counQr  and  the  Towns  of  Cliamplin  and  Dayton  in  Hennepin  County," 
320  pages,  190S,  by  Albert  M-  Goodrich ;  and  from  Charles  W.  Lenfest, 
county  treasurer,  Frank  Hart,  clerk  of  the  court,  and  Clarence  D.  Green, 
real  estate  agent,  during  a  visit  to  Anoka  in  October,  1916. 

Anoka  was  founded  by  Orrin  W.  Rice,  Neal  D.  Shaw,  and  others,  by 
whom  its  name  was  adopted  in  May,  1853,  The  "City  of  Anoka"  was 
incorporated  by  the  state  legislature  July  29,  18S8,  and  later  the  "Borough 


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ANOKA  COUNTY  23 

of  Anoka,"  March  S,  1869,  but  both  these  acts  failed  of  acceptance  by  the 
vote  of  the  township.  Finally,  under  a  legislative  act  of  March  2,  1878, 
this  city  was  set  off  fram  the  township  of  the  same  name,  the  first  city 
eitctioh  being  held  oh  Marcli  ii. 

Bethel  was  first  settled  in  1836  by  Quakers,  and  Was  organized  the 
next  year.  Its  name  is  from  ancient  Palestine,  meaning  "House  of  God,'' 
and  was  selected  for  this  township  by  Moses  Twitchell,  who  settled  here 
as  an  immigrant  from  Bethel,  Maine. 

Blaine  township,  settled  in  1862,  was  the  east  part  of  Ano!<a  until 
18?7;  when  it  was  separately  organized  and  was  named  in  honor  of  James 
Gillespie  Blaine,  a  prominent  Republican  statesman  of  Maine.  He  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  Jan.  31,  1830,  and  died  in  Washington,  D.  C„  Jan. 
27,  1893;  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  Maine,  1863-76,  being  the 
speaker  in  1869-75 ;  U.  S.  senator,  1876-81 ;  and  secretary  of  state,  March 

D      m  88  88  884 

H 


H  R 

flo. 
the  town.  .  ,  .  A  ferry  across  the  Mississippi  river  was  established  about 
1854."      (Goodrich,    pages    162-3).      This    very    small    county    continued 
nearly  thirteen  years,  until  in  1869-70  it  was  united  with  Anoka  county 
as  Manomin  township.    The  name  was  changed  to  Fridley  in  1879. 

Abram  McCormick  Fridley,  in  whose  honor  this  township  received  its 
name,  was  born  in  Steuben  county,  N.  Y.,  May  I,  1817;  came  to  Long 


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24  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Prairie,  Minn.,  in  1851  as  agent  for  the  Winnebago  Indians ;  was  after- 
ward a  farmer  in  this  township,  and  in  1B69  opened  a  large  farm  in 
Becker,  Sherburne  county ;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in 
1855,  1869-71,  and  IS;9.    He  died  in  Fridley  township,  IMarch,  1888. 

Grow  township,  settled  about  1853,  was  organized  in  1857  with  the 
name  Round  Lake,  which  in  1859  was  changed  to  Grow,  in  honor  of 
Galusha  Aaron  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  born  in  1823,  and  died  in 
1907;  was  a  member  of  Congress,  1851-63,  and  again  in  1894-1902;  was 
the  speaker  of  the  House,  1801-3.  "For  ten  years,  at  the  beginning  of 
each  Congress,  he  introduced  in  the  House  a  free  homestead  bill,  until 
it  became  a  law  in  1862."  This  grand  public  service  has  caused  him  to  be 
remembered  gratefully  by  millions  of  homesteaders. 

Ham  Lake  township,  settled  in  1857,  was  attaclied  to  Grow  township 
till  1871,  when  it  was  separately  organized.  It  had  been  previously  called 
Glengarry,  a  name  from  Scotland,  which  its  Swedish  settlers  found  dilS- 
cult  to  pronounce.  The  county  commissioners  therefore  named  the  new 
township  Ham  Lake,  from  its  lake  in  sections  16  and  17,  which  had  ac- 
quired this  name  on  account  of  its  form. 

LiNwoOD  township,  first  settled  in  I8SS  and  organized  in  1871,  received 
its  name  from  Linwood  lake,  the  largest  and  most  attractive  one  in  a 
series  or  chain  of  ten  or  more  lakes  extending  from  northeast  to-  south- 
west through  this  township  and  onward  to  Ham  lake.  The  name  doubt- 
less refers  to  the  lin  tree  or  linden.  Our  .A.merican  species  (Tilia  Ameri- 
cana), usually  called  basswood,  is  abundant  here,  and  is  common  or  fre- 
quent through  nearly  all  this  state. 

Oak  Gbiove  township,  settled  in  1855,  was  organized  in  1857.  "The 
name  is  derived  from  the  profuse  growth  of  oak  trees,  which  are  about 
equally  distributed  over  the  township."  (Upper  Mississippi  Valley,  page 
285). 

Ramsey,  first  permanently  settled  in  J850,  was  organized  in  1857, 
being  then  named  Watertown ;  but  in  November,  1858,  this  township  was 
renamed  in  honor  of  Alexander  Ramsey,  the  first  governor  of  Minnesota 
Territory,  1849-53,  and  later  the  second  governor  of  this  state,  1860-63. 

Itasca  was  the  name  given  by  Governor  Ramsey  and  others  to  a  town- 
site  platted  ill  1852  on  sections  19  and  30  in  this  township,  near  an  Indian 
trading  post;  and  the  first  postoffice  of  Anoka  county  was  established 
there  and  named  Itasea  in  May  of  that  year.  The  name  was  copied  from 
Lake  Itasca,  at  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  which  had  been  so  named 
by  Schoolcraft  in  1832.  It  was  later  applied  during  many  years,  after 
the  building  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  through  this  county,  to  its 
station  near  the  former  Itasca  village  site.  Both  the  vili^e  and  the  rail- 
way station  have  been  abandoned,  but  a  new  station,  named  Dayton,  for 
the  village  of  Dayton  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi,  has  been 
established  on  the  Northern  Pacific  and  Great  Northern  railways  about  a 
mile  southeast   from  the   former   Itasca  station.     This  old  village  name, 


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ANOKA  COUNTY  25 

which  became  widely  known  sixty  years  ago,  is  now  retained  here  only 
by  the  neighboring  Lake  Itasca,  of  small  size,  scarcely  exceeding  a  half 
mile  in  diameter. 

St.  Francis  township,  settled  in  1855  and  organized  in  1857,  bears  the 
name  given  by  Hennepin  in  1680  to  the  Rum  river.  It  was  transferred 
by  Carver  in  1766  to  the  Elk  river,  and  now  is  borne  by  the  chief  north- 
ern tributary  of  that  river.  The  name  is  in  commemoration  of  St.  Fran- 
cis of  Assisi,  in  Italy,  who  was  born  in  1181  or  1182  and  died  in  1226, 
founder  of  the  Franciscan  order,  to  which  Hennepin  belonged. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  Mississippi  has  been  considered  in  the  first  chapter;  and  the  origiD 
of  the  name  Rum  river,  outflowing  from  Mille  Lacs,  is  noted  for  Mille 
Lacs  county. 

A  noteworthy  series  of  lakes  extends  through  Columbus  and  Cen- 
terville,  including,  in  their  order  from  northeast  to  southwest,  Mud  lake, 
Howard,  Colurabia,  Tamarack,  Randeau,  Peltier,  Centerville,  George 
Watch,  Marshan,  Rice  (or  Traverse),  Reshanau,  Baldwin,  and  Golden 
lakes.  The  second  to  the  fifth  of  these  lakes  are  now  much  lowered  or 
wholly  drained  away. 

Peltier  lake  was  named  for  early  settlers,  Charles,  Paul,  and  Oliver 
Peltier,  the  first  of  whom  built  a  sawmill. 

Rice  lake  probably  received  its  name  .from  its  wild  rice,  but  Rice 
creek,  flowing  through  this  series  of  lakes,  was  named  for  Hon.  Henry 
M.  Rice,  of  St.  Paul,  United  States  senator,  who  was  an  early  resident  in 
Fridley  township,  as  before  noted.  This  Rice  lake  has  been  also  known 
as  Traverse  lake,  for  F.  W.  Traverse,  living  at  its  northwest  side. 

Golden  lake,  the  most  southwestern  in  the  series,  lying  in  sections  25 
and  36,  Blaine,  was  named  for  John  Golden,  owner  of  land  adjoining  it, 
who  was  one  of  three  brothers,  early  immigrants  to  this  county  from 
Ireland. 

Another  series  of  lakes,  tributary  in  its  northern  part  to  the  Sunrise 
river,  and  at  the  south  to  Coon  creek,  lies  in  Linwood,  Bethel,  and  Ham 
Lake  townships.  This  series  includes,  fr«m  northeast  to  southwest.  Typo 
lake  and  Lake  Martin;  Island  lake,  named  for  its  island;  Linwood  lake, 
giving  its  name  to  the  township;  Boot  lake,  named  from  its  outline; 
Rice  lake,  having  wild  rice;  Coon  lake  and  Little  Coon  lake,  named,  like 
the  creek,  for  raccoons,  formerly  much  hunted  here ;  and  Lake  Netta  and 
Ham  lake,  the  latter,  as  before  noted,  being  named  from  its  form,  and 
giving  name  also  to  its  township. 

Cedar  creek,  and  the  adjoining  Cedar  station  and  village  oi  the  Great 
Northern  railway,  are  named  for  the  white  cedar  or  arbor  vitae,  grow- 
ing there  in  swamps. 

Seeley,  Trott,  and  Ford  brooks,  on  the  west  side  of  Rum  river,  are 
named  for  their  early  settlers. 


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26  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

In  Burns  township,  Norris  take,  in  section  1,  was  likewise  named  for 
Grafton  Norris ;  and  Hare  lake,  in  section  21,  now  drained,  for  James 
U.  Hare,  who  was  formerly  postmaster  of  Nowthen  postoffiee,  lately 
discontinued,  near  this  lake.  (It  is  said  that  the  name  of  this  postoffiee 
was  recommended  by  Mr.  Hare's  neighbors,  from  his  common  use  of  it, 
"Now  then,"  in  conversation). 

Other  lakes  named  for  pioneer  settlers  are  Miiiard  lake  and  Jones 
lake,  in  Bethel,  the  latter  (now  drained)  having  been  also  known  as  Lone 
Pine  lake;  Lake  George,  in  Oak  Grove  township;  Bunker  lake  in  section 
36,  Grow  township,  named  for  Kendall  Bunker,  a  homesteader  there;  and 
Lake  Amelia,  in  section  35,  Centerville. 

The  following  lakes  bear  names  that  occur  somewhat  frequently  in 
many  other  counties : 

Cedar  lake  in  sections  33  and  34,  Centerville. 

Crooked  lake   m  section  33,  Grow,  and  section  4,  Anoka. 

Deer  lake   sections  15  and  22,  Bethel. 

Fish  lake   m  the  north  part  of  Bethel 

Goose  lake   now  drained,  sections  15  and  16,  Burns. 

Grass  lake   section  11   Oak  Grove. 

Mud  lake  m  section  16,  Bethel;  and  another  in  section  13,  Columbus. 

Otter  lake   sections  35  and  36,  Centerville. 

Pickerel  lake  mostly  drained,  section  22,  Burns. 

The  two  Rice  lake^   occurring  in  the  series  before  noted. 

Round  lake,  sections  20  and  29,  Grow. 

Swan  lake,  now  drained,  in  section  25,  Oak  Grove. 

Twin  lake,  section  19,  Burns. 


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BECKER  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  18,  1858,  but  not  organized  until  thir- 
teen years  later  by  a  legislative  act  approved  March  1,  1871,  was  named 
in  honor  of  George  Loomis  Becker,  of  St.  Paul.  He  was  born  in  Locke, 
Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  February  4,  1829;  was  graduated  at  the  University 
of  Michigan  in  1846 ;  studied  law,  came  to  Minnesota  in  1849,  and  began 
law  practice  in  St.  Paul;  was  mayor  of  this  city  in  1856;  was  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Minnesota  in  18j9;  was  a  state  senator.  18''j8- 
71.  He  was  commonly  called  General  Becker,  having  been  appointed  by 
Governor  Sibley  on  his  military  staff  in  1858,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier 
general.  In  1862  he  became  land  commissioner  of  the  St.  Paul  and 
Pacific  railroad,  and  was  ever  afterward  occupied  in  advancing  the  rail- 
road interests  of  Minnesota,  being  a  member  of  the  state  railroad  and 
warehouse  commission  from  1885  to  1901.  He  died  in  St.  Paul,  January 
6,  1904, 

October  13,  1857.  Mr,  Becker  was  elected  as  one  of  three  members  of 
Congress,  to  which  number  it  was  thought  that  the  new  state  would  be 
entitled.  It  was  afterward  decided,  however,  that  the  state  could  have 
only  two  representatives ;  and,  in  casting  lots  for  these  two,  Becker  was 
unsuccessful.  His  generous  acquiescence  was  in  part  rewarded  by  this 
county  name. 

Townships  and  Villages. 
Information  has  been  gathered  from  "A  Pioneer  History  of  Becker 
County,"  by  Alvin  H.  Wilcox,  published  in  1907,  757  pages ;  from  H.  S. 
Dahkn,  county  auditor,  George  D.  Hamilton,  editor  of  the  Detroit 
Record,  and  Charles  G.  Sturtevant,  formerly  county  surveyor,  interviewed 
during  a  visit  at  Detroit  in  August,  1909 ;  and  from  maps  in  the  office 
of  J.  A.  Narum,  county  auditor,  examined  during  a  second  visit  in  Sep- 
tember, 1916. 

Atlanta  township,  settled  in  1871,  was  organized  January  25,  1879, 
being  then  named  Martin,  perhaps  for  Martin  Hanson,  one  of  the  first 
settlers.  Two  months  afterward  it  was  renamed  Atlanta,  "from  tlie  re- 
semblance its  undulating  surface  bears  to  the  Atlantic  ocean." 

Audubon  township  was  organized  August  19,  1871,  but  was  njmed 
successively  Windom,  Colfax,  and  Oak  Lake,  holding  the  last  of  these 
names  from  1873  until  1881.  The  Northern  Pacific  station  and  village 
to  be  established  here,  also  the  small  lake  adjoining  the  village  site,  had 
received  the  name  Audubon  in  August,  1871,  in  honior  of  John  James 
Audubon  (b.  1780,  d.  1851),  the  great  American  ornithologist,  celebrated 
for  his  pictures  of  birds.  This  name  was  proposed  by  his  niece,  a  mem- 
27 


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28  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

ber  of  a  party  of  tourists  who  "camped  where  the  Audubon  depot  now 
stands."  In  January,  1881,  the  township  name  was  changed  to  Audubon, 
and  on  February  23  of  that  year  the  village  was  incorporated. 

BuBLiNGION,  organized  August  26,  18?2,  "was  so  named  from  the  city 
of  Burlington  in  the  state  of  Vermont,  by  Mrs.  E.  L.  Wright,  a  Ver- 
monter,  whose  husband  took  a  leading  part  in  the  organization  of  the 
township." 

Frazee  village,  on  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  in  this  towns-  o,  was 
platted  in  1873,  but  was  not  incorporated  until  1891.  It  was  na^  'd  in 
honor  of  Randolph  L.  France,  owner  of  its  lumber  mill.  He  was  ,  orn 
at  Hamden  Junction,  Ohio,  July  3,  1841 ;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1866,  and 
to  this  place  in  1872 ;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  187S ;  re- 
moved in  1890  to  Pelican  Rapids,  and  died  there  June  4,  1906. 

Callaway  township,  organized  March  30,  1906,  is  named  for  William 
R.  Callaway,  of  Minneapolis,  general  passenger  agent  of  the  Soo  rail-  ' 
way,  which  had  previously  established  a  station  and  village  of  this  name 
in  section  32. 

CAfisoNVn.LE  township,  organized  September  20,  1831,  was  named  by 
Alvin  H.  Wilcox,  then  county  treasurer,  in  honor  of  George  M.  Carson, 
a  prominent  pioneer,  who  in  June,  1879,  took  a  homestead  in  section  18, 
Osage  (the  east  part  of  Carsonville  till  its  separate  organization  in  1891). 

Cormorant  township,  organized  February  26,  1872,  received  this  name 
from  its  Big  Cormorant  and  Upper  Cormorant  lakes,  which  are  translated 
from  the  Oj'ibway  names.  Our  species  is  the  double-crested  cormorant, 
which  nests  plentifully  about  these  lakes. 

Cuba,  organized  in  the  winter  of  1871-72,  was  named  for  Cuba,  Alle- 
gany county,  N.  Y.,  the  native  place  of  Charles  W.  Smith,  who  came  as 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  this  township  in  1871, 

Detroit  township,  settled  in  1868  and  organized  July  29,  1871,  derived 
its  name  from  Detroit  lake,  which,  according  to  the  History  of  Becker 
"  county,  had  been  so  named  by  a  French  traveler  here,  who  was  a  Catho- 
lic missionary.  Having  camped  for  a  night  on  the  north  shore  of  the 
lake  in  full  view  of  the  long  bar  which  stretches  nearly  across  it  and 
leaves  a  strait  {detroit,  in  French)  between  its  two  parts,  he  thence  ap- 
plied this  name  to  the  lake.  It  appeared  on  our  state  maps  in  I860.  The 
Ojibway  name  of  this  lake  refers  also  to  its  strait,  being  translated  by 
Gilfillan  as  "the  lake  in  which  there  is  crossing  on  the  sandy  place."  De- 
troit has  been  the  county  seat  of  Becker  county  from  its  organization  in 
1871 ;  but  during  the  first  year  some  of  the  meetings  of  the  county  com- 
missioners were  held  at  or  near  Oak  lake,  a  few  miles  distant  to  the 
northwest.  The  first  village  election  was  held  March  3,  1881 ;  and  the 
cily  charter  was  adopted  February  23,  1903. 

Erie  township,  first  settled  in  1872-3  and  organized  August  18,  1878, 
was  named  for  Erie  county  in  New  York  by  settlers  who  came  from  the 
city  of  Buffalo,  which  is  in  that  county. 


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BECKER  COUNTY  29 

EVERCEEEN,  organized  January  4,  1888,  was  named  for  its  abundant 
evergreen  trees,  including  the  pines,  spruce,  balsam  fir.  and  the  red  and 
white  cedars.  It  is  estimated  that  in  1880  this  township  had  "abo-jt  five 
million  feet  of  standing  white  pine." 

Grand  Park  township,  organized  Jaly  31,  1892,  was  so  named  fior  its 
beautiful  scenery  of  rolling  and  hilly  woodland,  interspersed  with  lakes 
and  traversed  by  the  head  stream  of  the  Red  river. 

Green  Valley,  organized  May  3,  1886,  received  this  name  from  the 
valley  of  Shell  river,  which  crosses  the  northeast  part  of  this  township, 

Hamden  township,  organized  September  19,  1871,  was  named  for  Ham- 
den  in  one  of  the  eastern  states,  this  being  a  town  or  village  name  in 
Connecticut,  New  \ork,  New  Jersey   a   d  Ohio. 

Height  of  Lawd  tow  i  p  organ  zed  Janiary  26,  1886,  bears  the  name 
of  the  large  lake  e  os  ed  by  ts  north  boundary.  The  Red  or  Otter  Tail 
river  flows  through  tl  s  lake  from  wh  cl  a  former  canoe  route  led  east- 
ward to  the  Shell  lake  and  r  ve  tr  butary  bj  the  Crow  Wing  river  to  the 
Mississippi,  Gilfillan  translated  the  Oj  b  'ay  name,  "Ajawewesitagun 
sagaiigun.  the  lake  where  the  portage  is  across  a  divide  separating  water 
which  runs  different  ways,  or  Height  of  Land  lake." 

HoLMESviLLE  township,  which  received  its  first  settlers  in  1871  and 
1873,  was  organized  March  19,  1889,  as  East  Richwood;  but  this  was  soon 
changed  to  the  present  name,  in  honor  of  Elon  G.  Holmes.  He  was  bom 
in  Madison  county,  N.  Y.,  in  I84I ;  served  in  the  26th  New  York  regi- 
ment in  the  civil  war;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1865;  settled  in  Detroit  in 
1872,  and  was  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  there ;  was  a  state 
senator,  1887-9. 

Lake  Eunice  township,  settled  in  J870  and  organized  September  3 
1872,  "was  named  by  the  United  States  sur\e\or'i  in  honor  of  Eunice 
McClelland,  who  was  the  first  white  woman  to  settle  near  the  lake  She 
was  the  wife  of  John  McClelland  (He  was  elected  the  fir  t  clerk  of 
this  township,  and  was  also  the  fir'it  reg  ster  of  deeda  of  the  county 
holding  the  latter  office  six  ■years) 

Lake  Pakk  township,  settled  in  1870   was  organized  September  19 

1871,  being  then  named  Liberti  which  was  changed  to  the  present  name 
in  1876.  Its  many  lakes  were  collectively  named  b\  the  Oiibma'ss  as 
translated  by  Gilfillan,  "the  lakes  where  there  are  stream'  gro\es  prai 
ries,  and  a  beautiful  diversified  park  country 

The  name  of  Lake  View,  settled  m  1870-71  and  wganized  March  12. 

1872,  was  suggested  by  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Sturtevant,  "as  there  were  so 
many  lakes  in  the  township  and  so  many  pretty  views  from  them." 

Osage,  settled  in  1879,  was  united  in  township  government  with  Car- 
sonville  until  May  4,  1891,  when  it  was  separately  organized,  deriving  this 
name  from  Osage,  the  county  seat  of  Mitchell  county,  Iowa.  It  is  also 
a  geographic  name  in  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Oklahoma;  but 
originally  it  was  adopted  for  the  Osage  tribe  of  Indians,  "the  most  im- 


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30  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

porfant  southern  Siouan  tribe  of  the  western  division"   (F.  W.  Hodge, 
Handbook  of  American  Indians). 

RiCEviLLE,  organized  in  1912,  derived  its  name  from  the  South  branch 
of  the  Wild  Rice  river,  which  flows  through  the  northwest  part  of  this 
township.  ■ 

RicHwooB  township,  organized  June  23,  187i,  was  named  from  Rich- 
wood  in  the  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  the  native  town  of  W.  W. 
McLeod,  who  settled  on  the  site  of  Richwood  village  in  May,  1871,  being 
one  of  the  owners  of  a  sawmill  there. 

RuNEBERG  township,  Settled  in  1882  and  organised  May  24,  1887,  was 
named  in  honor  of  Johan  Ludwig  Runeberg,  the  great  Swedish  poet.  He 
was  born  at  Jakobstad,  in  Finland.  February  S,  1804;  and  died  at  Borgi, 
near  Helsingf  ors,  May  6, 1877. 

Savannah  township,  organized  October  12,  1901,  was  named  for  its 
several  tracts  of  grassy  meadow  land  along  stream  courses,  "made  in  an 
early  day  by  the  backwater  from  the  dams  of  the  beavers."  (The  Ameri- 
can origin  of  this  word  has  been  noted  for  the  West  Savanna  river  in 
Aitkin  county). 

Shell  Lake  township,  first  settled  in  1^1  ^nd  organized  December 
7,  1897,  bears  the  name  of  its  large  lake,  the  source  of  the  Shell  river. 
These  English  names  were  derived  probably  from  the  shells  found  along 
the  shore  of  the  lake.  The  Ojibway  name  means,  as  translated  by  Gil- 
fillan,  "the  lake  lying  near  the  mountain,"  having  reference  to  the  portage 
thence  across  the  water  divide  to  Height  of  Land  lake. 

Silver  Leaf,  settled  in  1882-83,  was  organized  March  3,  1888,  receiv- 
ing its  name  "from  the  silvery  appearance  of  the  leaves  of  the  poplar, 
with  which  the  township  abounds." 

Spring   Creek   township,  lorganized   in   1912,    is   named    for   its    small    ■ 
creeks  and  many  springs,  headwaters  of  the  South  branch  of  the  Wild 
Rice  river. 

Spruce  Grove  township,  settled  in  1880,  was  organized  January  19, 
1889.  "As  the  predominant  timber  in  the  town  was  evergreens,  it  was 
called  Spruce  Grove.  The  township  was  heavily  timbered  with  pine 
(five  million  feet),  spruce,  balsam,  oak,  poplar,  birch,  elm,  basswood, 
iponwood,  and  tamarack." 

Toad  Lake  township,  settled  in  1887  and  organized  January  5,  1892, 
received  this  name  from  its  large  lake,  a  translation  from  the  Ojibway  . 
name,  Mukuki  {or  Omakaki)  sagaiigiin.  Thence  also  came  the  name  of 
the  outflowing  Toad  river,  and  of  the  prominent  morainic  drift  hill  in 
section  8,  on  the  west  side  of  this  lake,  called  "Toad  mountain,"  which 
commands  an  extensive  view  of  the  surrounding  country. 

Two  Inlets,  settled  in  1881  and  organized  September  20,  1898,  was 
named  from  Two  Inlets  lake,  in  the  east  part  of  this  township.  It  re- 
ceives two  inflowing  streams  close  together  at  its  north  end,  the  larger 
one  being  the  Fish  Hook  river,  which  flows  through  this  lake. 


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BECKER  COUNTY 


tl  d       1879      d      g         d  Ap    i  3    1883  w 
,  n        f    t      fi    t  p    n  f       W  Iw  rth 

.     f     m  th      dj  g  T  ff  ty   n  th  t 

g  d  M      I    W   1900   w  d  f        t 

f  tl      U    t  d  St  t      g        nm  nt 
wh  h  1  tl  un 

Th  m  1  f  th  O)  bw  y 
to  this  reservation  b  g  n  1858  th  fi  t  p  t  ra  n?  t  th  t  f  the 
agency  on  June  14,  wh    h  I  b    ted  th  1   y  g  eat    nn 


Walworth  town  i  p 
named  by  Albert  E.  H 
county,  Wisconsin.    H 


White  Eabth  to  h  p  g 
village  of  White  E  rth  tl  1 
agency  of  the  White  E  th  Ind 
ties,  Becker,  Mahno  d  CI 


versary  day. 
The 


t 


d  f     m  ■W  h  t     Earth  1  k 
i  k  th  Ij     g 

;      It    O]  bw  m         g  b 

th    pi  f     h  t      1  y    1  k        o 

imit        pi  t  th      1  f  th 


h) 


mF    I     d 
i     g     Ik 


the  most  beautiful  i  tl 

about  five  miles  north      t     f  th 
GilfiUan,    "Ga-wabab  gu    k  g 

called  from  the  whit      1  >      h    h 

Ogema  (with  ac      t         tl  t    1  1     g  g 

meaning  in  the  Ojibw  j  1     g  g          h    f  th 
township. 

Wolf  Lake  town  h  p   h    t  ttl  d        1888  by   m 

was  organized  Apr  1  4    1896  e  th  m 

which  was  so  named  b    th        ttl  t     f    t    f  M     y  w  1 

bears,  and  deer  wer    k  11  d  I  d        g  th  fi    t  j             f    ettl          t 

Lakes  and  Stee\M6 

The  Otter  Tail  or  Red  river,  fravers  ng  this  count>  receued  its  mme 
from  the  large  Otter  Tail  lake  in  the  next  ecuntj  on  the  south  which  is 
named  from  that  lake  and  the  river  as  noted  m  its  chapter  Pelican 
river,  flowing  through  the  Detroit  series  of  lakes  to  Otter  Tail  river  is 
noted  in  the  same  chapter,  for  Pelican  township  and  the  Milage  of  Peh 
can  Rapids,  named  like  this  river,  in  translation  of  the  Ojibway  name 
for  Lake  Lida,  which  adjoins  it  and  is  tributary  to  it  in  Otter  Tai!  county 

The  origins  of  the  names  of  several  lakes  of  Becker  county  are  noticed 
in  the  foregoing  list  of  its  townships.  These  are  the  Cormorant  lakes 
in  the  township  of  this  name,  to  which  may  be  added  the  Little  Cor- 
morant lake  in  Audubon  and  Lake  Eunice  townships ;  Detroit  lake.  Height 
of  Land  lake  and  Lake  Eunice;  the  many  little  lakes  in  Lake  Park  town- 
ship ;  Shell  lake.  Toad  lake.  Two  Inlets  lake,  White  Earth  lake,  and  Wolf 
lake. 

Elbow  lake,  the  most  northern  in  the  series  through  which  the  Red 
or  Otter  Tail  river  flows,  is  noted  by  Gilfillan  as  a  translation  of  its 
Ojibway  name,  having  reference  to  Its  sharply  bent  form.  The  next  lake 
in  this  series  is  Little  Bemidji  lake,  a  mile  long,  this  Ojibway  word  sig- 
nifying a  lake  that  is  crossed  by  a  stream. 


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32  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Many   Point   lake  ist         Itdfmth       bogl        m  f         g 

to  the  many  bays  and  int  gptfthh  K       dlklk 

wise  from  the  Ojibway  n  q  pi       t         b      g  f 

most  common  lake  name    ti       gh     t  tl       t  t       Tl     Upp  d  L  w 

E^g  lakes,  west  of  Round  Ik  d  th         til         g  Fgg  g 

translations,  referring  to        t        dggfwtl         gbd 

Flat  lake  is  another  n  fid  g  hlphphldb 

better  translated  as  Shall  w  1  k  B  1  w  th  j  t  f  th  Rou  d  Lak 
and  Shallow  Lake  rivers  tl    y  m  d  by  tl      Oj  bw  j      tl      R  d 

river  passes  through  as     11  Ik  t       16   G      dPk      hhGI 

SUan  translated  as  "the-bl    kb   d  pi         f  w  id  Ik         It  1       b 

more  simply  anglicized  a    BI     kb    d  1  k 

West  of'  Height  ofLadlk  P        Tm        k,      dCtt      Ik 

the  last  probably  named  f         p 

Other  lakes  wl         Ojbym  t        ltd       IdFhHk 

lake  (close  west  fWlt  E  thlkjBgRtlk  BgR  hlk  I 
Cracking,  Green  Wt  dP        Ptlk       Bwodlkjgl 

lake.  Lake  ofthVllySt  b  jlkthBg  dLttlSg  Bh 
lakes  (so  named  f      m  p!    t  d  tl     m  k    g    f  m  pi        g      bj  th 

Indians),   and   T  !  b}    1  k     (     m  d  f  p  f      h  t  fi  h    th     t  I 

libee),  these  being    n  tl     Wl  t    E    tl    E      rv  t  t     ght  lak        d 

river  are  likewis    tit  1  tl        b      g      1 

The  Buffalo  d    t  f    m  tl         1  t     p    pi      f 

tributary  having    t  \  A  h        wh    h  11  d  by  th     O]  fa- 

ways,   as   translated,   "Buff  1  f     m   th      f     t   tl    t  b  ff  1 

always  found  wintering  th  Th    p  B   ff  i     1  k  tl  m 

clature  of  these  Indians,  h    1  k    wl  t  fc    p      rumbl    g    w  y  f     m 

the  gnawing  of  beavers ;"  and  they  apply  the  same  name,  as  stated  by  Gil- 
fillan,  to  what  we  call  Buffalo  river,  flowing  into  the  Red  river.  In  a 
word,  therefore,  the  Ojibway  name  in  translation  would  be  Beaver  lake 
and  river. 

Bool  lake,  in  Savannah,  and  Moon  lake,  in  sections  2  and  11,  Rich- 
vfiood,  are  so  named  for  their  outlines.  Mission  lake,  in  White  Earth, 
is  named  for  the  adjoining  Catholic  mission  and  church. 

The  following  lakes,  in  the  alphabetic  order  of  their  townships,  were 
named  for  settlers  on  or  near  them:  Balke  lake  and  Lake  Tilde,  in  At- 
lanta; Homstad,  McKinstry,  Marshall,  and  Reep  lakes  in  Audubon;  Chil- 
ton and  Pearce  lakes,  in  Burlington ;  Anderson  and  Fairbanks  lakes,  in 
Callaway;  Floyd  and  Little  Floyd  lakes,  in  Detroit;  Howe  lake,  in  Erie; 
Collett  lake,  in  Evergreen  township;  Momb's  lake  in  HolmesviUe;  Boyer 
lake,  Lake  Labelle,  and  Stakke  lake,  in  Lake  Park  township ;  Lake  Abbey, 
Curfman,  Monson,  Reeves,  and  Sauer's  lakes,  in  Lake  View;  Campbell. 
Houg,  and  Sands  lakes,  in  Richwood;  Bisson  and  Trotochaud .  lakes,  in 
Riceville ;  Lake  Clarence,  in  Spring  Creek  township ;  and  Du  Forte  and 
Morrison  lakes,  in  White  Earth, 


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BECKER  COUNTY  33 

Several  lakes  in  the  southwest  part  of  this  county  were  named  for  the 
wives  or  daughters  of  pioneer  settlers,  as  Lakes  Sallie  and  Melissa, 
through  which  the  Pelican  river  flows  below  Detroit  lake,  Lake  Eunice 
(giving  name  to  its  township),  Lake  Maud  and  Lake  Ida.  Excepting 
Lake  Eunice,  before  noticed  as  named  for  Mrs.  John  McClelland,  only 
one  other  of  these  has  been  identified  with  its  surname,  this  being  for 
Melissa  Swetland,  one  of  three  daughters  in  the  family  of  a  pioneer  from 
Canada,  well  remembered  by  Miss  Nellie  C  Childs,  assistant  county  su- 
perintendent of  schools. 

This  county  has  other  takes  bearing  the  following  names,  for  which 
their  origin  and  significance  have  not  been  ascertained ;  Acorn  and  E^e 
lakes,  in  Burlington;  Brandy  lake  and  St.  Qair  lake,  in  Detroit,  and 
another  St.  Clair  lake  in  sections  13  and  14,  Callaway;  Pearl  lake,  in 
Lake  Eunice  township;  Lake  Forget-me-not,  in  Lake  Park;  Dead  lake 
and  Hungry  lake,  in  Silver  Leaf  township;  Chippewa  lake,  in  Grand 
Park ;  and  Rock  lake,  in  Holmesville. 

Common  lake  names  which  need  no  explanation,  iDCcurring  here,  are 
two  Bass  lakes,  in  the  White  Earth  Reservation ;  Long  lake,  in  Detroit ; 
Oak  lake,  the  locality  of  an  early  settlement,  between  Detroit  and 
Audubon ;  Loon  lake,  in  section  24,  Lake  Eunice  township ;  Fox  lake,  in 
section  7,  Lake  View ;  Pickerel  lake  and  Perch  lake,  in  Erie,  Island  lake, 
in  Shell  Lake  township;  Mud  lake,  close  south  of  Toad  lake,  another  a 
mile  west  bf  Little  Toad  lake,  and  a  third  in  section  2,  Silver  Leaf ;  four 
Rice  lakes,  in  Detroit,  Erie,  Grand  Park,  and  Holmesville ;  Round  lake, 
before  noted,  in  the  White  Earth  Reservation,  and  another  in  Holmes- 
ville; Turtle  lake,  in  section  7,  Cormorant;  and  Twin  lakes,  in  sections 
11  to  13,  Height  of  Land. 

H 

moid  fied 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY 

Thirty  years  intervened  between  the  establishment  of  Beltrami  county, 
February  28,  1866,  and  its  organization,  when  its  county  seat  and  earliest 
settlement,  Bemidji,  received  incorporation  as  a  village,  May  20,  1896. 

The  county  name  was  adopted  in  honor  of  Giacomo  Costantino  Bel- 
trami, the  Italian  explorer  in  1823  of  the  most  northern  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  near  the  center  of  the  part  of  this  county  lying  south 
of  Red  lake.  Anglicized,  his  name  vfas  James  Coastantine,  and  on  the 
title-page  of  his  published  works,  relating  his  travels,  it  is  given  by 
initials  as  J.  C  Beltrami.  Except  David  Thompson  in  1798,  he  was  the 
first  explorer  to  supply  descriptions  of  Red  and  Turtle  lakes,  though 
undoubtedly  they  had  been  previously  visited  by  roving  traders  and  their 
canoe  voyagers. 

Beltrami  was  born  at  Bergamo,  Italy,  in  1779.  His  father  advised  him 
to  the  profession  of  the  law,  and  he  held  numerous  official  positions  as 
a  chancellor  and  a  judge;  but  in  1821,  being  accused  of  implication  in 
plots  to  establish  an  Italian  republic,  he  was  exiled. 

After  traveling  in  France,  Germany,  and  England,  Beltrami  sailed 
from  Liverpool  to  Philadelphia,  and  arrived  there  February  21,  1823. 
About  a  month  later  he  reached  Pittsburgh,  there  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Lawrence  Taliaferro,  the  Indian  agent  at  the  new  Fort  St.  Anthony 
(two  years  afterward  renamed  Fort  Snelling),  and  traveled  with  him  by 
steamboat  down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  Mississippi,  coming  on  May  10  to 
the  fort 

From  July  9  to  August  7,  Beltrami  traveled  to  Pembina  with  the  ex- 
ploring expedition  of  Major  Long,  to  whom  he  had  been  commended 
by  Snelling  and  Taliaferro.  He  left  that  expedition  at  Pembina,  and  went 
southeastward  along  an  Indian  trail,  with  two  Ojibways  and  a  half-breed 
interpreter,  to  the  junction  of  the  Thief  and  Red  Lake  rivers,  whence  his 
journey  was  by  carfoe  up  the  latter  river  to  Red  lake.  From  an  Ojibway 
village  near  the  mouth  of  the  lake,  Beltrami  traveled  with  a  canoe  along 
its  southwestern  shore  to  the  Little  Rock  or  Grave!  river,  where  he 
stopped  at  the  hut  of  a  half-breed,  who  became  his  guide.  August  26 
and  27  were  spent  in  making  !ong  portages  with  the  half-breed  and  an 
Ojibway,  leaving  the  siouth  shore  of  Red  lake  a  short  distance  east  from 
the  site  of  the  Agency  and  going  south,  passing  small  lakes  and  coming 
at  last,  by  a  few  miles  of  canoeing,  to  Lake  Puposky,  now  also  called  Mud 
lake.  Proceeding  still  southward  the  next  morning,  Beltrami  soon  came 
to  a  Jake-  named  by  him,  for  a  deceased  friend,  Lake  Julia,  which  he 
thought  to  have  no  visible  outlet,  but  to  send  its  waters  by  filtration 
through  the  swampy  ground  both  northward  and  southward,  being  thus 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  35 

a  source  both  of  the  Red  Lake  river,  called  by  him  Bkwdy  river,  and  of 
the  Turtle  river,  the  most  northern  affluent  oi  the  Mississippi.  The  nar- 
rative of  Beltrami  shows  that  he  arrived  at  Lake  Julia  hy  a  short  por- 
tage ;  but  on  the  map  of  the  United  States  land  surveys  it  is  shown  as 
having  an  outlet  into  Mud  lake,  thus  belonging  to  the  Red  river  basin. 

On  September  4  Beltrami  reached  Red  Cedar  lake,  since  known  as 
Cass  lake ;  and  during  the  next  three  days  he  voyaged  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  the  mouth  of  Leech  Lake  river.  Thence  he  went  up  that  stream 
to  Leech  lake,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Qoudy  Weather,  a 
leader  in  the  band  of  the  Pillager  Ojibways,  by  whom  he  was  accompa- 
nied in  the  long  canoe  voyage  of  return  to  the  Mississippi  and  down  this 
river  to  Fort  St.  Anthony. 

The  next  winter  was  spent  by  Beltrami  in  New  Orleans,  where  he 
published  his  narration  in  1824,  written  in  French,  bearing  a  title  which 
in  English  would  be  "The  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi 
and  of  the  Bloody  River "  In  1828  he  published  m  London  his  most 
celebrated  work,  entitled  "\  Pilgrimage  m  Europe  and  America  leadmg 
to  the  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  Bloodj  Rner; 
with  a  Description  of  the  Whole  Course  of  the  former  and  of  the  Ohio." 
This  work  of  two-iolumea  is  cast  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  letter';  ad- 
dressed to  an  Italian  countess  Eight  letters  in  pages  116  to  491  of  Vol- 
ume II,  contain  the  account  of  his  travels  in  Minnesota 

During  his  later  years  until  1850  Beltrami  resided  m  \arious  cities 
of  France,  German},  Austria  and  Italy,  and  his  last  fi\e.  jears  were  ^pent 
on  his  land  estate  at  Filotrano  near  Macerata  Italv  where  he  died  in 
February,  IS'^S 

The  citj  of  Bergamo  his  birthplace,  m  1865  published  a  volume  of  134 
pages  commemorating  his  life  and  work,  dedicated  to  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Societ}  In  translation  from  this  book  Alfred  J  Hill  presented 
in  the  second  volume  of  this  society's  Historical  CollectwHi^  a  biographic 
sketch  of  Be!trami  together  with  a  communication  from  Major  Talia- 
ferro, giving  reminiscences  of  him 

Townships  -^nd  ViLL\GEb 

Information  was  received  from  John  Wilmann,  county  auditor,  during 
a  visit  at  Bemidiji  in  September,  1909;  and  from  H.  W.  AIsop,  deputy 
auditor,  in  a  second  visit  there,  Atigust,  1916. 

Alaska  township  was  named  by  settlers  who  had  traveled  to  Alaska. 

Angle  township  received  this  name  from  its  being  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  inlet  (about  ten  miles  long)  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  lead- 
ing to  its  Northwest  Angle,  or  "most  northwestern  point,"  as  it  was 
described  by  the  treaty  of  1783  and  by  later  treaties  defining  the  boundary 
between  this  country  and  Canada.  The  area  thus  named  Angle  comprises 
about  120  square  miles,  bounded  by  the  lake  on  the  south,  east,  and  north. 
Excepting  Alaska,  it  is  the  most  northern  tract  of  the  United  States,  as 
it  lies  between  10  and  26  miles  north  of  the  49th  parallel. 


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36  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Arnesen  is  a  fishing  viliage  on  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  in 
Lakewood  township.  Its  site  was  formerly  known  as  Rocky  Point.  The 
village  was  founded  by  Bernard  A.  Arnesen,  who  settled  there  in  1897. 

Battle  township  is  named  for  Battle  river,  flowing  through  this  town- 
ship into  the  east  end  of  the  south  half  of  Red  lake.  The  stream  was  so 
named  by  the  Ojibways  on  account  of  their  having  fought  here  witb  the 

Baudette  township  and  village  are  named  from  the  Baudette  river, 
there  tributary  to  the  Rainy  river.  It  is  an  early  French  name,  probably 
in   commemoration  of  a  fur  trader. 

Bemibji  township  and  city  were  named  for  an  Ojibway  chief  whose 
band  of  about  fifty  people  had  their  homes  on  and  near  the  south  end 
of  Lake  Bemidji  and  around  Lake  Irving,  including  the  site  where  white 
settlers  founded  this  town.  The  chief  died  in  April,  1904,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five  years.  His  name  was  taken  from  the  older  Ojibway  name  of 
this  lake,  crossed  by  the  Mississippi.  Gilfillan  translated  it  as  "the  lake 
where  the  current  flows  directly  across  the  water,  referring  to  the  river 
flowing  squarely  out  of  the  lake  on  the  east  side,  cutting  it  in  two  as  it 
were,  very  briefly  Cross  lake." 

Benville  township  was  probably  named  for  a  pioneer  settler. 

Big  Gkass  is  named  from  the  South  branch  of  Roseau  river,  which  has 
its  sources  in  the  north  edge  of  this  township.  This  French  name,  Roseau, 
translated  from  the  Ojibway  name  of  the  Roseau  lake  and  river,  means 
the  very  coarse  grass  or  reed  {Phragmites  communis),  which  is  common 
or  frequent  in  "the  edges  of  lakes  and  slow  streams  throughout  this 
northwestern  part  of  Minnesota. 

BmcH  township  has  valuable  timber  of  the  paper  or  canoe  birch, 
and  also  of  the  yellow  or  gray  birch,  the  former  species  being  greatly 
used  by  the  Indians  for  making  their  birch  bark  canoes. 

Birch  Island  township,  on  the  north  side  of  the  north  half  of  Red 
lake,  is  named  for  its  having  a  well  wooded  tract  of  canoe  birch,  elm, 
oak,  ash,  basswood,  and  other  trees,  along  and  near  the  lake  shore  between 
the  Two  rivers  and  for  a  mile  eastward.  This  was  a  heavily  timbered 
island,  as  it  was  called,  rising  10  to  25  feet  above  the  lake,  in  remarkable 
contrast  with  nearly  all  other  parts  of  the  north  shore,  which  are  a  very 
extensive  tamarack  swamp  only  a  few  feet  above  the  lake  and  reaching 
thence  north  10  to  15  miles  or  more. 

Black  Duck  township  received  its  name  from  its  large  Black  Duck 
lake,  the  source  of  the  river  of  the  same  name  tributary  to  Red  lake.  The 
species  popularly  known  by  this  name  is,  according  to  Dr.  Thomas  S. 
Roberts,  the  ring-necked  duck  (Marila  collaris,  Donovan),  frequent  or 
common  throughout  the  state. 

Brook  Lake  township,  the  most  southeastern  of  this  county,  is  named 
from  a  small  lake  in  section  27,  Moose  Lake  township,  adjoining  this  on 
the  north,  and  a  brook  flows  from  it  into  section  3  of  this  township. 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY 


37 


BuzzLE  township  and 
honor  of  an  early  settler 

Chilgren  township  w 
scent,  who  is  a  farmer  an 

Clementson,  a  small 
river,  in  Gudrid  township, 
saw  mill  there,  formerly  a 

CoKMANT  is  shortened 
this  township,  named  by 
for  the  double-crested 
The  full  form  of  the  na 
Becker  county,  preventing 
spelling,  however,  it  was 


Buzele  lake,   in   its   section  21,  were   named   in 

beside  the  lake. 

IS  named   for  Albert  Chiigren,  of  Swedish  de- 

1  lawyer  there. 

village  on  Rainy  river  at  the  mouth  of  Rapid 
was  named  for  Helec  Clementson,  owner  of  a 

,  county  commissioner,  who  came  in  May,  1S96. 
from  the  Comorant  river  which  flows  through 

Beltrami  (in  translation  of  the  Ojibway  name) 
frequent  in  many  parts  of  Minnesota, 
ne  had  been  earlier  applied  to  a  township  of 
ts  use  elsewhere  in  this  state ;  with  the  abridged 
admitted  again   into   the  list   of   our  township 


DURAND  township  is  in  honor  of  Charles  Durand,  a  homesteader  on  the 
northeast  side  of  Lake  Puposky. 

EcKLEs  township  bears  the  name  of  an  early  iandholder  interested  in 
the  building  of  its  branch  of  the  Great  Northern  railway. 

Eland  township  was  named'  by  the  early  settlers,  perhaps  for  the  eland 
of  South  Africa,  a  large  species  of  antelope  or  elk  formerly  found  there 

EuGENF  township  was  named  probably  for  Eugene  V  Debs  of  Indiana 
tandidate  of  the  Socialist  Party  for  president  of  the  United  State'  m 
I9U4    1908  and  1912 

Faslei  a  railwas  station  in  Port  Hope  township  was  named  for  a 
lumberman  and  merchai  t  there  who  remo\ed  we't  several  years  -igo  and 
has  smce  died 

Fkohn  was  named  for  a  diiatnct  of  Gudbrandidalen  Norway  the  for 
mer  home  of  immigranti  in  th  s  township 

FuMi-LEY  a  railwa*  tation  and  junLtion  m  Hornet  township  was 
named  for  Henry  FunUev  a  Kwjer  in  Bem  dji 

Grant  \allb\  ttwnship  and  ita  Grant  lake  m  section  4  with  Grant 
creek   its  outlet   were  named  for  an  earl>  settler  or  lumberman 

GuDRru  township  has  a  Norwegian  feminine  name  probabli  for  the 
wife  of  an  immigrant  homesteader 

KIGALI  was  named  for  an  earh  Norwegian  settler  of  this  township 

H^MRE  township  derned  its  name  from  a  small  district  m  Norwiy 
whence  some  ot  its  settlers  came 

HiNES  a  railway  station  in  Black  Duck  township  was  named  for  Wil 
Iiam  Hmes   formerly  a  lumberman  there 

Hornet  township  was  origmallj  named  Murrai  a  duplicati  n  of  an 
older  Minnesota  township  name  and  the  Lhan^e  and  selcctirn  of  the 
present  name  caused  much  contention 

Island  L\ke  a  iiUage  m  the  east  part  of  -Miska  township  at  the  end 
of  a  lumber  railway  branch  was  named  for  the  adjoming  Island  lake 
which  has  a  small  island  close  to  this  ullage 


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38  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Jones  township  was  named  for  a  pi-oneer  there,  who  moved  away  many 

Keil  township  was  probably  named  for  a  German  settler. 

Kelliheb  township  and  its  village,  at  the  end  of  a  branch  railway 
built  for  lumbering,  were  named  for  A.  O.  Kelliher,  a  former  agent  here 
for  lumber  companies,  i 

KoNiG  township  was  named  for  a  settler  there  from  Germany, 

Lakewdod  township  was  named  for  its  timber,  and  for  its  situation  on 
the  south  shore  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 

Lammers  was  named  for  the  Lammers  Brothers  (George  A,  and 
Albert  J.),  of  Stillwater,  who  engaged  in  real  estate  and  lumber  business 
in  this  township, 

Langoh  township  received  its  name  in  honor  of  Henry  A.  Langord 
(the  linal  letter  being  omitted),  a  settler  of  Norwegian  descent,  coming 
here  from  Wisconsin. 

Lee  township  was  named  for  settlers  from  Norway,  their  original 
name  having  been  changed  to  this  spelling. 

Liberty  township  received  this  name  iu  accordance  with  the  petition 
of  its  settlers. 

Maple  Ridge  township  was  named  for  its  sugar  maple  trees,  and  for  its 
situation  at  the  sources  of  streams  descending  north  to  Red  lake.  Sugar 
Bush  township  is  also  named  for  the  maple  trees  and  sugar-making,  to  be 
more  fully  noted  in  a  later  page. 

McDoUGALD  township  was  named  for  John  McDougald,  a  member  of 
the  first  board  of  county,  commissioners,  now  engaged  in  real  estate  busi- 
ness at  Black  Duck. 

Meadow  Land  township  is  named  for  its  grass  lands  along  streams, 
open  areas  used  for  hay-making  in  this  generally  wooded  region. 

Minnie  township  has  the  feminine  name  derived  from  the  name  of  this 
state,  perhaps  chosen  in  honor  of  the  wife  or  daughter  of  one  of  its 
pioneers. 

Moose  Lake  township  is  named  for  its  Moose  lake  and  Little  Moose 
lake,  which  are  probably  translated  from  their  Ojibway  names. 

Myhke  township  was  named  for  L.  O.  Myhre,  of  Norwegian  descent, 
a  former  member  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  residing  near 
Bemidji, 

Nbbish  township  and  its  lake  of  this  name  are  from  the  Ojibway  word 
anibish,  tea,  the  much  relished  drink  alike  of  the  white  settlers  and  the 
Ijidians. 

NoKTHEEN  township  received  this  name  because  it  includes  the  north 
part  of  Lake  Bemidji. 

Northwodd  township  was  named  for  its  timber  and  its  situation  in  the 
north  part  of  this  county. 

Nymore,  the  lumber  manufacturing  village  near  the  city  of  Bemidji, 
was  named  for  Martin  Nye,  a  Bemidji  pioneer,  who  was  a  veteran  of  the 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  39 

O'BsiEN  township  was  named  for  a  lumberman  there,  William  O'Brien, 
from  Stillwater,  Minn. 

Pioneer  township  received  this  name  in  compliment  to  its  pioneer 
settlers. 

PoNEMAH,  a  village  on  the  north  shore  of  the  southern  half  of  Red 
lake,  having  a  United  States  government  school  for  the  Ojibway  children, 
bears  a  name  used  by  Longfellow  in  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha."     Minne- 
haha in  dying,  and  afterward  Hiawatha,  depart 
"To  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed, 
To  the  Kingdom  of  Ponemah, 
To  the  Land  of  the  Hereafter." 

Port  Hope  township  was  named  by  one  of  its  first  settlers.  Captain 
William  Wetzel,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  war  and  the  civil  war,  probably 
for  Port  Hope,  Canada,  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario. 

PoTAMo  township  has  the  name  of  a  town  on  the  east  coast  of  the 
island  of  Corfu,  Greece. 

Prosper  township  received  this  name  of  good  promise  in  accordance 
with  the  petition  of  its  settlers. 

PuPOSKY  is  a  railway  village  in  Durand  township,  on  Lake  Puposky, 
an  Ojibway  name  recorded  and  translated  by  Beltrami,  signifying  "the 
end  of  the  shaking  lands,"  that  is,  swamps  whose  surface  is  shaken  and 
sinks  when  walked  on.  It  has  been  also  translated  as  Mud  lake,  with 
Mud  river  outflowing  from  it. 

Quiring  township  needs  further  inquiry  to  learn  why  it  is  so  named. 

Rapid  River  township  was  named  for  the  stream  crossing  it,  a  tributary 
of  the  Rainy  river.  It  was  mapped  and  described  by  Keating  of  Major 
Long's  expedition  in  1823  as  the  River  of  Rapids,  "so  called  from  the  fine 
rapids  which   it  presents   immediately  above  its   mouth." 

Redby,  a  village  on  the  south  shore  of  Red  lake  and  at  the  end  of  a 
railway  branch,  received  its  name  from  the  lake. 

Roosevelt  township,  including  the  greater  part  of  Clearwater  lake, 
crossed  by  the  west  line  of  this  county,  and  also  the  railway  village  of 
Roosevelt,  78  miles  farther  north  near  the  Lake  of  the  Woodi  in  the 
east   edge    of  the   adjoining   Rosea  t  m  d  h  of 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  president  of  th    U    t  d  St  t      1901  (P 

RtjLiEN  township  was  named  fo    W  II    m  R  1        wh  g  g  d  in 

real  estate  business  in  Baudette. 

Shooks  township  was  named  f      Edw    d  Sh    k     wh     w  mer- 

chant there  at  a  former  station  of  th    K  II 1  1     j  b       h 

Shotley  township  was  probably       m  d  f         lb  t    Sh  tley 

brook,  here  flowing  into  the  north  h  If    f  R  d  1  k 

SoLWAY,  a  railway  village  in  L  mm  t  w  h  p  d  th  S  Iway 
Lumber   Company,   which   formerlj  k  d  t  tv    w  med 

after  Solway  Firth,  the  wide  inlet  f    m  th    I     h  S      b  t  E  gland 

and  Scotland, 


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40  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Spooner  township  is  in  honor  of  Marshall  A.  Spooner,  of  Bemidji, 
who  was  judge  in  this  Fifteenth  judicial  district,  1903-08. 

Spruce  Grove  township  was  named  for  its  spruce  timber,  abundant 
on  many  tracts  throughout  northern  Minnesota. 

Steenebson  township  was  named  for  Hon,  Halvor  Steenerson,  of 
Crookston,  representative  in   Congress   since   1903. 

Sugar  Bush  township  was  named,  like  Maple  Ridge  township  also  in  , 
this  county,  for  its  maple  trees  used  by  both  the  Indians  and  white  people 
for  sugar-making.  Beltrami  wrote  of  the  Ojibway  process  of  making 
maple  sugar,  as  follows  (in  his  "Pilgrimage,"  vol.  11,  page  402)  :  "The 
whole  of  this  territory  abounds  with  innumerable  maple  or  sugar  trees, 
which  the  Indians  divide  into  various  sitgaries.  The  sap  of  the  trees 
flows  through  incisions  made  in  them  by  the  Indians  in  spring  at  the  foot 
of  the  trunk.  It  is  received  in  buckets  of  birch  bark  and  conveyed  to  the 
laboratory  of  each  respective  sugary,  where  it  is  boiled  in  large  cauldrons 
till  the  watery  parts  are  evapo-rated.  The  dregs  descend,  and  the  saccha- 
rine matter  remains  adhering  to  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  When  this  process 
Is  completed  the  sugar  is  made." 

Summit  township  has  the  highest  land  crossed  by  the  Minnesota  and 
International  railway,  called  therefore  a  "summit"  by  its   surveyors. 

Swift  Water  received  its  name,  like  Rapid  River  township  before 
noted,  from  the  Rapid  river  flowing  through  these  townships. 

Taylor  township  was  named  in  honor  of  James  Taylor,  an  early 
homesteader  there,  now  a  merchant  at  Tenstrike,  the  village  on  the  west 
border  of  this  township. 

Tenstrike,  a  railroad  village  oa  the  line  between  Port  Hope  and 
Taylor  townships,  was  platted  and  named  by  Almon  A.  White  of  St.  Paul, 
alluding  to  the  completely  successful  bowling  which  with  the  first  ball 
knocks  down  all  the  ten  pins. 

Turtle  Lake  township  bears  the  name  of  its  large  lake,  translated, 
as  also  the  outflowing  Turtle  river,  from  the  Ojibway  name.  Thompson, 
who  traveled  here  in  1798,  wrote  of  this  lake  that  "its  many  small  bays 
give  it  the  rude  form  of  a  turtle." 

Turtle  River  township  likewise  is  named  for  its  Turtle  River  lake, 
and  for  the  river  so  named  flowing  through  this  lake,  the  most  northern 
tributary  of  the  Mississippi. 

Wabanica  township  received  Its  name  from  waban,  the  Ojibway  word 
for  the  east  and  also  for  the  twilight  or  dawn  of  the  morning. 

Walhalla  township  is  named  from  Norse  mythology,  for  the  hall  of 
Odin,  also  spelled  Valhalla,  into  which  were  received  the  souls  of  war- 
riors slain  in  battle. 

Washkish  township,  at  the  east  end  of  the  north  part  of  Red  lake,  is 
from   the  Ojibway  word,  wawashkeshi,  the  deer,  which  is 
or  frequent  there,  though  much  hunted. 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  41 

Wbeeler  township,  at  the  west  side  of  the  mouth  of  Rainy  river,  was 
named  for  Alonzo  Wheeler,  a  pioneer  farmer  there. 

Wilton,  a  railway  village  and  junction  in  Eckles  township,  was  named 
for  some  one  of  the  fifteen  or  more  villages  and  tov^ns  of  tliis  name  in  the 
eastern   states,   Canada,   and   Englandi. 

WooDRow  township  is  in  honor  of  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
Woodrow  Wilson. 

ZippK.  township  was  named  for  William  M.  Zippel,  of  German  de- 
scent, who  through  many  years  has  been  a  fisherman  on  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  living  in  this  township,  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek  which  was 
earlier  named  for  him.  The  aboriginal  name  of  this  stream,  which  con- 
tinued until  recently  in  use,  was  Sand  creek.  Mr,  Zippel  first  settled  at 
Rat  Portage  in  1884,  and  removed  three  years  afterward  to  the  mouth 
of  this  creek,  where  the  fishing  village  bearing  his  name  has  since  grown 
up. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 
The  names  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Rainy  and  ifississippi  rivers 
and  Cass  lake  have  been  considered  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  work ; 
and  Red  lake  will  be  later  noticed  in  connection  with  Red  Lake  county. 
In  the  preceding  list  of  townships,  sufficient  mention  is  made  of  several 
lakes,  rivers,  and  creeks,  these  being  Battle  river.  Lake  Beraidji,  Black 
Duck  lake  and  river,  Brook  lake,  Buzjle  lake.  Cormorant  river.  Grant 
lake  and  creek.  Moose  lake  and  Little  Moose  lake,  Nebish  lake,  Lake 
Puposky  or  Mud  lake  and  the  outflowing  Mud  river,  Rapid  river,  Shotley 
brook,  Turtle  lake  and  river  and  the  Turtle  River  lake,  and  Zippel's  creek. 
The  longest  southern  tributary  of  Red  lake  on  the  canue  route  of 
Beltrami  is  Mud  river,  the  outlet  of  I-ake  Puposky  or  Mud  lake,  which 
he  called  "the  river  of  Great  Portage."  This  name,  as  he  wrote,  was  gi\en 
by  the  Indians,  "because  a  dreadful  storm  that  occurred  on  it  blew  down 
a  vast  number  of  forest  trees  on  its  banks,  which  encumber  its  channel, 
and  so  impede  its  navigation  as  to  make  an  extensive  or  great  portage 
in  order  to  reach  it."  In  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  Bel- 
trami, it  is  sometimes  called  Red  Lake  river,  indicating  it  to  he  the  upper 
part  of  the  river  that  outflows  from  Red  lake. 

Lake  Julia,  before  noted  as  the  highest  source  of  this  stream,  was 
thought  by  Beltrami  to  send  its  waters  partly  southward,  so  that  it  sup- 
plied to  him  the  title  of  "the  Julian  sources  of  Bloody  river  and  the 
Mississippi." 

Schoolcraft,  in  the  Narrative  of  his  expedition  to  Lake  Itasca  in  1832 
(published  in  1834),  wrote  the  name  of  Lake  Bemidji  as  "Pamitchi 
Gumaug  or  Lac  Travers."    On  Nicollet's  map,  1843,  it  is  "Pemidji  L." 

Lake  Irving,  closely  connected  with  Lake  Bemidji  by  a  strait  and 
forming  the  south  boundary  of  the  city  of  Bemidji,  was  named  by  School- 
craft for  Washington  Irving,  the  eminent  American  author   (1783-1859). 


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42  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

It  was  frequently  called  Little  Bemidji  lake  by  the  early  settlers,  which 
name  has  passed  out  of  use. 

Lake  Marquette,  in  sections  29  to  31,  Bemidji,  was  also  named  by 
Schoolcraft,  for  the  zealous  French  missionary  and  explorer  of  the 
Mississippi  (1637-75).  It  is  on  the  Plantagenian  or  South  Fork  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  Schoolcraft  ascended  on  his  way  to  Lake  Itasca,  now 
named  Schoolcraft  river  (or  Yellow  Head  river,  for  his  Ojibway  guide), 
more  fully  noticed  in  the  chapter  of  Hubbard  county. 

The  Mississippi  for  about  si>!  miles  next  below  Lake  Bemidji  has  a 
series  of  rapids,  which  were  ascended  in  1832  by  Schoolcraft  and  were 
described  by  him  as  follows  in  his  "Summary  Narrative"  (published  in 
1855).  "Boulders  of  the  geological  drift  period  are  frequently  encountered 
in  ascending  them,  and  the  river  spreads  itself  over  so  considerable  a 
surface  that  it  became  necessary  for  the  bowsmen  and  steersmen  to  get 
out  into  the  shallows  and  lead  up  the  canoes.  These  canoes  were  but 
of  two  fathoms  length,  drew  but  a  few  inches  of  water,  and  would  not 
bear  more  than  three  persons.  .  .  .  There  were  ten  of  these  rapids 
encountered  before  we  reached  the  summit  or  plateau  of  Lake  Pemidje- 
gumaug,  which  is  the  Lac  Traverse  of  the  French.  These  were  called 
the  Metoswa  rapids,  from  the  Indian  numeral  for  ten"  (Midasswi  in 
Baraga's  Dictionary). 

A  few  miles  below  these  rapids,  the  Mississippi  in  the  southeast  corner 
of  Frohn  township  flows  through  Wolf  lake,  which  was  called  Pamitas- 
codiac  by  the  Ojibways.  It  was  thought  by  Schoolcraft  to  be  so  named 
for  a  tract  ot  prairie  adjoining  it,  "from  pemidj,  across,  muscoda,  a  prairie, 
and  acfcee,  land." 

One  to  two  miles  farther  east  the  Mississippi  passes  through  the  south 
end  of  Lake  Andrusia,  named  by  Schoolcraft  in  1832  for  Andrew  Jadcson, 
who  was  president  of  the  United  States,  1829  to  1837. 

For  the  next  two  miles  the  course  of  this  river  is  occupied  by  Allen's 
bay,  which  is  connected  with  Cass  lake  by  a  short  and  narrow  strait.  This 
body  of  water  was  named  also  by  Schoolcraft,  for  Lieutenant  James  Allen, 
a  member  of  the  expeiiition  of  1832,  "who,  on  his  return  down  the  Missis- 
sippi, was  the  first  to  explore  it."  Allen  was  bom  in  Ohio,  1806;  was 
graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  1829;  was  promoted  to  be 
captain,  First  Dragoons,  J837;  conducted  an  expedition  to  the  sources  of 
the  Des  Moines  and  Blue  Earth  rivers  in  1844;  and  died  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth, Kansas,  August  23,  1846.  He  was  author  of  a  report  to  the  gov- 
ernment on  each  of  these  two  Minnesota  expeditions. 

David  Thompson's  map  of  the  international  boundary  survey  from 
Lake  Superior  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  in  1826,  shows  the  mouths  of 
Rapid  river.  Riviere  Baudette,  andl  Winter  Road  river,  flowing  into  the 
Rainy  river  from  this  county.  The  first  was  named,  as  before  noted, 
for  its  picturesque  rapids  or  falls,  descending  about  20  feet,  close  above 
its  mouth ;  and  the  second  is  thought  to  be  a  French  personal  surname. 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  43 

The  third  of  these  streams  received  its  name,  as  noted  by  Nathan 
Butler,  of  Minneapolis,  who  during  many  years  was  engaged  in  survey- 
ing and  land  examinations  in  northern  Minnesota,  for  "a  winter  road,  or 
dog  sled  trail,  leaving  the  Rainy  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  Winter  Road 
river  and  running  about  S.  20°  W.  fifty  miles,  to  the  middle  of  the  north 
shore  of  the  north  Red  lake.  The  whole  distance  is  one  continuous  swa'-'n, 
tamarack  and  open,  except  where  the  streams  have  cut  down  into  the 
ground  from  six  to  twelve  feet  below  the  surface,  thus  draining  the  land 
on  either  side  for  forty  or  fifty  rods."  (Geology  of  Minnesota,  vol.  IV, 
1899,  page  150.) 

Winter  Road  lake,  in  Eugene  township,  is  translated,  like  this  out- 
flowing river,  from  their  Ojibway  name. 

Peppermint  creek,  tributary  to  the  Winter  Road  river,  is  named  for 
its  native  species  of  mint,  including  most  notably  the  wild  bergamot 
(Monarda  fistulosa). 

The  following  lakes  bear  names  of  early  settlers :  Campbell  lake.  Lake 
Erick,  and  Peterson  lake  (also  called  Mud  lake),  in  Liberty  township; 
Myrtle  lake,  in  sections  4  and  9,  Roosevelt ;  Buzzle  and  Funkley  lakes, 
in  Buzzle  township;  Movil  lake,  in  Turtle  Lake  and  Northern  townships; 
Robideau  and  Gilsted  lakes,  in  Birch  township ;  and  Swenson  and  Grace 
lakes,  in   Frohn  township. 

Pimushe  lake,  in  Moose  Lake  township,  which  we  receive  from  Nicol- 
let's map,  bears  an  Ojibway  name,  but  it  has  not  been  identified  in 
Baraga's    Dictionary. 

Kichi  lake,  on  the  south  line  of  the  same  township,  also  mapped  wiiih 
this  name  by  Nicollet,  now  spelled  Kitihi  lake,  means  in  the  Ojibway 
language  Big  lake,  its  approved  form  is  Kitchi,  in  Baraga's  Dictionary, 
or  Gitche,  in  Longfellow's  "Song  of  Hiawatha."  It  is  thus  of  exactly 
the  same  meaning  as  a  second  Big  lake,  three  miles  distant  on  the  west, 
in  Sugar  Bush  township. 

Nearly  all  the  other  lakes  of  this  county,  not  already  noted,  chieHy 
occurring  only  in  its  southern  third  part,  have  names  of  common  or 
frequent  use  and  evident  origin,  many  indeed  being  translations  of  the 
aboriginal  names.  These  include  Moose  and  Turtle  lakes,  in  Alaska  town- 
ship; Bass  lake,  in  Nebish,  also  Bass  and  Little  Bass  lakes,  in  Turtle  River 
township ;  Clearwater  lake  and  river,  to  be  more  fully  noticed  for  Qear- 
water  county ;  two  White  Fish  lakes,  in  Hagali  and  Buzzle  townships ; 
Loon  lake  and  Medicine  lake,  in  Hagali,  the  latler  of  Ojibway  origin; 
Gu!!  lake,  in  Hagali  and  Port  Hope;  Deer,  Pony,  and  Long  lakes,  in 
Liberty  township,  and  another  Long  lake  in  Turtle  River  township ;  Black 
lake,  Fox,  Gnat,  and  Three  Island  lakes,  in  Turtle  Lake  township;  Twin 
lakes,  in  Taylor;  Grass  lake,  on  the  line  between  Eckles  and  Grrant  Valley; 
Rice  lake,  on  the  east  line  of  Sugar  Bush,  and  another  in  Jones  township, 
the  latter  more  commonly  known  by  its  Ojibway  name,  Manomin  lake, 
each  referring  to  the  luxuriant  growths  of  wild  rice;  Boot  and  Fern 


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44  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

lakes,  in  Grant  Valley,  the-  former  named  for  its  oiitiine ;  and  School  fake, 
in  Frohn,  lying  partly  in  the  school  section  16. 

Points  and  Islands,  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

The  Rainy  river  enters  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  by  flowing  through 
Four  Mile  bay,  so  named  for  its  length  from  east  to  west.  This  bay  is 
separated  from  the  main  lake  by  Oak  point,  also  four  miles  long,  which  is 
a  narrow  sand  bar,  bearing  many  bur  oaks,  a  species  that  is  common  or 
abundant  throughout  Minnesota,  excepting  far  northeastward. 

On  the  Canadian  side,  opposite  Oak  point,  a  similar  wave-built  sand 
bar  or  barrier  beach,  named  Sable  island,  skirts  the  original  lake  shore 
for  about  six  miles  northeastward.  Its  French  name,  if  anglicized,  would 
be  Sand  island.  The  geologic  origin  or  formation  of  Oak  point  and  Sable 
island  is  the  same  with  Minnesota  point  and  Wisconsin  point,  which 
inclose  the  harbors  of  Duluth  and  Superior. 

The  sand  dunes  of  this  island  and  of  Oak  point  caused  this  large 
southwest  part  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  be  formerly  often  called 
Sand  Hill  lake. 

From  the  mouth  of  Rainy  river,  at  the  east  end  of  Oak  point,  the  in- 
ternational boundary  runs  nearly  due  north  across  the  main  southern  area 
of  the  lake,  passing  close  west  of  Big  island,  which  belongs  to  Canada. 
As  it  approaches  the  Northwest  Angle  inlet  (called  "Angle  river"  ia  the 
latest  Minnesota  atlas),  which  has  been  noted  on  a  preceding  page  in  its 
relation  to  ^ngle  township  the  boundary  se's  off  to  this  slate  on  its  west 
O  B 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  45 

The  site  of  Fort  St,  Charles,  which  was  established  by  Verendrye  in 
1732  and  named  by  him  in  honor  of  the  governor  of  Canada,  Charles  de 
Beauharnois,  was  discovered  in  1908,  on  the  Minnesota  shore  of  Hie 
Northwest  Angle  inlet,  rearly  three  miles  distant  from  the  bend  of  the 
boundary  at  American  point,  the  north  end  of  a  small  island,  where  it 
turns  from  its  north  course  to  run  westward  up  the  inlet.  From  this 
fort  the  eldest  son  of  Verendrye  and  a  Jesuit  missionary  named  Father 
Aulneau,  with  nineteen  French  voyageurs,  started  in  canoes  June  5.  1736, 
to  go  to  Mackinac  for  supplies.  Early  the  next  morning,  at  their  first 
camping  place,  they  were  surprised  and  murdered  by  a  war  party  of  the 
Prairie  Sioux.  This  massacre,  from  which  not  one  of  the  Frenchmen 
escaped,  was  on  a  small  island  of  rock,  since  called  Massacre  island,  in 
the  Canadian  part  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  about  twenty  miles  distant 
from  the  fort  by  the  canoe  route.  (Rev.  Francis  J.  Sehaefer,  in  Acta  et 
Dicta,  published  by  the  St.  Paul  Catholic  Historical  Society,  vol.  II,  pp. 
114-133,  July,  1909,  with  two  maps  between  pages  240  and  241  in  the  same 
volume.) 

Tributaries  and  Points  of  Red  Lake. 
In  September,  1885,  the  present  writer  made  a  canoe  trip  for  geologic 
observations  along  the  entire  shore  line  of  Red  lake,  starting  east  from 
the  Agency.  The  journey,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  in  extent  and  occu- 
pying six  days,  was  wholly  within  the  Red  Lake  Indian  Reservation,  which 
has  since  been  greatly  reduced  in  its  area.  My  canoemen  were  two 
Ojibways,  Roderick  McKenzie  and  William  Sayers,  each  of  whom  had 
received  a  fair  education  and  could  converse  well  in  English.  Mr. 
McKenzie,  by  his  acquaintance  with  the  Indians  about  the  lake,  was  spe- 
cially serviceable  In  obtaining  information  of  the  names  applied  by  them 
to  streams  and  points  of  land  along  the  shore,  and  the  translations  of 
these  are  given  in  my  report,  published  by  the  Geological  and  Natural 
History  Survey  of  Minnesota  {vol.  IV,  1899,  pp.  155-165).  A  sketch  map 
of  Red  lake  and  its  vicinity  drawn  during  this  travel  and  published  by 
the  U,  S.  Geological  Survey,  is  Plate  XII  in  Monograph  XXV,  1896,  "The 
Glacial  Like  Agassiz  "  Much  abridged  from  the  report  cited,  the  follow- 
ing are  my  n  t       f  t  an  1  t  f  the  Ojibway  names  then  in  use. 

The  St      m    t  tl      Ag  n  y       P  ke  creek,  rendered  Gold  Fish  creek  by 
dents  it  is  more  commonly  called  Mill 
ng  ten  feet  head,  is  built  on  this  stream 
m  its  mouth.    Its  sources,  according  to 
Rev.  F.  W    S     tl  f  three  or  four  lakelets,  the  lowest  of 

which,  ly  ng  th  uthw  t  d  of  the  road  to  Cass  lake,  is  called  by  the 
Indians  L  ttl  Ik  b  t  by  tl  wh  te  men  Ten  Mile  lake,  being  about  ten 
miles  dist  nt  f  m  th  Ag  n  ;  The  highest,  named  Cranberry  lake,  has 
quite  irr  gul  tl  I3     g  m     tly  in  sections  34  and  35,  T.  150,  R.  34, 

in  the  ea  t  pa  t    f  Ala  k   t  w    h  p 


Beltrami    b 

t  b 

th 

E 

gl   h 

creek.     A 

w  a 

Hg 

t 

mil  h 

about  a  q 

t 

f 

a 

1     f 

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46  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Near  the  chief's  village,  about  five  miles  east  of  the  Agency,  is  a 
slightly  projecting  point,  called  the  Chief's  point  It  rises  steeply  25  to 
30  feet  above  the  lake.  Indian  cornfields  were  seen  on  its  top,  in  small 
clearings  of  the  forest. 

Mud  river,  called  the  Red  Lake  river  on  former  maps,  and  Great 
Portage  river  by  Beltrami,  enters  the  lake  about  a.  half  mile  east  of  the 
Chief's  point.  This  is  larger  than  Pike  creek,  but  smaller  than  Sandy 
river  and  Black  Duck  river.  Its  head  stream  passes  through  Lake 
Puposky,  named  on  the  township  plats  Mud  lake,  and  through  two  lower 
small  lakes  called  Wild  Rice  lakes. 

Big  point,  a  broad  swell  of  the  shore,  standing  out  perhaps  an  eighth 
,  {  a  mile  beyond  the  general  outline  westward,  but  little  from  that  east- 
ward, is  nearly  a  mile  east  of  Mud  river. 

In  the  distance  of  six  miles  from  Big  point  to  Black  Duck  river,  four 
small  creeks  enter  the  lake,  bordered  by  tracts  of  marsh  grass  along  the 
lower  part  of  their  course.  On  these  meadows  we  saw  many  stacks  of 
hay  which  had  been  put  up  by  the  Indians,  and  the  name  Hay  creek  is 
applied  to  one  of  these  streams.  Hay  is  also  cut  by  the  Indians  on  the 
meadows  of  nearly  all  the  streams  about  Red  lake. 

Black  Duck  river  flows  into  the  most  southeast  part  of  the  southern 
half  of  the  lake.  It  is  called  Cakakisciou  river  on  Beltrami's  map,  and 
Cormorant  river  on  Nicollet's  and  later  maps ;  but  it  is  known  to  the 
English-speaking  residents  only  by  the  name  of  Black  Duck  river.  Its 
principal  tributary,  coming  in  from  the  northeast,  is  now  named  the 
Cormorant  river. 

Battle  river,  from  which  a  township  is  named,  enters  the  lake  about 
four  miles  farther  north.  It  is  of  nearly  the  same  size  as  Big  Rock 
creek  and  Mud  river. 

In  canoeing  thence  to  the  Narrows,  only  one  small  tributary  was  seen, 
called  Sucker  creek.  About  three  miles  west  of  this  creek  is  Elm  point, 
and  nearly  two  miles  beyond  this  we  passed  the  more  conspicuous  Un- 
inhabited point,  so  named  by  the  Indians  because  of  ancient  clearings 
along  the  shore  for  a  mile  to  the  east,  where  in  some  former  time,  pruA- 
ably  a  century  or  longer  ago,  the  Ojibway  people  had  a  village  and  cul-t 
tivated  fields.  Their  bark  lodges  and  more  permanent  log-houses,  with 
patches  of  com  and  potatoes,  were  seen  here  and  there  all  along  this 
shore  from  its  most  eastern  portion  to  the  Narrows. 

Beyond  the  Uninhabited  point  the  shore  trends  west-northwest  past 
Pelican,  Halfway,  &nd  Rabbit  points,  successively  about  three  fourths  of 
a  mile  apart.  About  a  mile  northwestward  from  Rabbit  point  is  Sand 
Cliff  point  The  base  of  this  is  the  usual  wall  of  boulders,  derived  from 
erosion  of  glacial  drift;  but  its  upper  part,  rising  steeply  from  near  the 
lake  level  to  a  height  of  7S  or  80  feet,  is  levelly  bedded  sand  and  fine 
gravel 


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BELTRAMI  COUNTY  47 

Next  to  the  northwest  a  plain  of  sand  and  gravel,  bearing  no  forest, 
and  perhaps  in  part  natural  prairie,  about  25  feet  above  the  lake,  extends 
two  thirds  of  a  mile  or  more,  diminishing  from  a  third  to  an  eighth  of 
a  mile  in  width.  On  this  tract,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  Narrows,  is  the 
principal  Ojibway  village  of  Red  lake,  consisting  in  1885  of  forty  or  fifty 
lodges.  This  village  was  represented  on  Nicollet's  map  (1843),  which  was 
of  so  early  date  that  it  does  not  show  St,  Paul,  Minneapolis,  nor  any  other 
city  or  town  in  Minnesota. 

A  later  note  should  be  added,  that,  according  to  Miss  Frances  Dens- 
more,  of  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  who  has  visited  these  Indians  to  write  of  their    ■ 
music,  this  village  is  called  by  them  "Wabacing  {where  the  wind  blows 
from  both  sides)."     The  name  refers  to  the  exposed  situation,  between 
the  south  and  norlii  parts  of  the  lake. 

Big  Sand  Bar  creek  of  1885  is  now  named  Shotley  brook.  At  its  mouth 
it  has  deposited  a  delta  of  sand  and  fine  gravel,  which  projects  fifteen 
rods  into  the  lake.  About  three  miles  farther  northeast  is  Little  Sand  Bar 
creek,  in  section  31,  Washkish. 

Tamarack  river,  called  Sturgeon  or  Amerikaning  river  on  Beltrami's 
map,  comes  in  at  the  extreme  east  end  of  the  lake.  It  is  50  to  !00  feet  wide 
near  its  mouth,  and  is  bordered  by  shores  of  alluvial  sand  only  three  -tr 
four  feet  high. 

Poplar  creek,  IS  to  20  feet  wide  and  two  or  three  feet  deep,  comes 
in  about  ten  miles  from  the  east  end  of  the  lake;  and  three  miles  farther 
west  the  Two  rivers,  each  30  feet  wide  and  three  or  four  feet  deep,  have 
their  mouths  about  a  half  of  a  mile  apart. 

Some  fifty  rods  west  from  the  west  one  of  the  Two  rivers  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  "winter  road"  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  a  trail  used,  as  he- 
fore  noted,  by  the  Indians  in  winter,  when  the  vast  swamps  of  the  inter- 
vening country  are  friozen. 

Wild  Rice  river  (Manomin  creek  of  the  Ojibways)  joins  the  lake  at 
the  extreme  northwestern  portion  of  this  north  half,  where  the  shore 
turns  in  a  graceful  curve  to  the  south.  This  is  a  large  stream,  40  to  50 
feet  wide  and  five  to  seven  feet  deep  for  a  distance  of  at  least  fifty  rods 
from  its  mouth.  Wild  rice  grows  along  its  banks  for  a  width  of  six  to  ten 
feet.  Abotit  a  mile  southwest  from  its  mouth  this  river  flows  through 
the  north  end  of  a  shallow  lake,  called  Wild  Rice  lake  from  its  rank 
growth  of  this  useful  grain,  which  supplies  a  large  part  of  the  winter 
food  of  the  Indians. 

From  the  West  Narrows  point  the  north  shore  of  the  south  half  of 
Red  lake  trends  west  and  southwest  about  four  miles  to  Starting  point, 
so  named  by  the  Indians  because  they  gather  there  for  starting  in  com- 
pany in  canoe  trips  to  the  outlet  and  down  the  Red  Lake  river. 

Oak  creek,  about  ten  feet  wide,  comes  in  some  six  miles  north  of  the 
outlet,  deriving  its  name  from  the  occurrence  of  several  large  oaks  on  the 
beach  near  its  mouth.    A  marsh,  destitute  of  trees,  but  with  tamarack  and 


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48  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

spruce  swamp  beyond  it  westward,  borders  the  lake  thence  about  two 
miles  to  Last  creek,  which  is  of  similar  small  size,  being  the  last  tribu- 
tary passed  in  approaching  the  outlet. 

Red  Lake  river  receives  no  tributary,  excepting  recent  drainage  ditches, 
till  it  reaches  the  mouth  of  Thief  river,  45  miles  distant  by  a  straight  line 
from  this  lake. 

Sandy  river,  which  comes  in  at  the  most  southwestern  portion  of  the 
lake,  is  about  35  feet  wide  and  four  feet  deep. 

Big  Rock  creek,  flowing  into  Red  lake  next  eastward,  is  also  called 
Shell  creek  for  Shell  lake  from  which  it  issues,  where  it  is  crossed  by 
the  road:  from  the  Red  Lake  agency  to  White  Earth  Jt  takes  the  for- 
m  m     f    m  tw     1    g     b     Id  h     1      t      ght   f    t        dm 

whhlm  dpttllkh  hdf 

th  th     1  tl       t      m 


Ab     t  f            d      h  If 

1      f    tl            t        p       d  L  ttl    R    k  1 

d         k      th    d    f 

1      p    t           11  d  b               f  tl     b      h    t 

Ittl     b     Id                 t     tw 

f    t       d        t       wh   h           d             ght 

1          h  w      f          th 

th    f  th           k     It  w         il  d  G        1 

by  B  It     m    wl            t  d 

d      m  d                  £     ght    m  111  k     t   b 

t       t    Ti          Ik        wl     1 

t       w  b            tl      d    t  fi  d    1 

f      th      h  Id          f      f 

ly      d        d  t     h  m        f       d  h  1     'y 

L               E         d    F    d 

-^d  !     M  gd  1         V  g             d  El 

R  d  W  t  k         y  11    p     b  bl         m  d  tl  !I  t      1 

b  g  ftps         t        tl      I  k     b  t  th     I  ttl     R    k 

kdtlAg  \pttlk        bt        toth  kbdth 

d  t    W  h  t    E    th       call  d  G         1  k     p    b  blj  f    m   t       fl    t         f 
tiflgfth  dgwd 

It  h      b  g  d  th  t  tl      O]  bw  y  t        1  t  d  R   !  1  k    m  y 

I         b        tkfmthRdWt  k  fmth  flwg 

t  dpghbd  dddhdy  How  bj  tl  t 

1       1  b  g  f  E  It    m     m  g      t      ly  t         1  t  d    t         Bl     d 

Ik        tt    b  t    g        t     bl     d     1    d         Id         w  M  I    1 1      P 

J       ph   A    G  Ihll        th       gh       1  m     g  th     I   d  t  d   f 

RdLk  t>l  dhtlbglra  fmth         1 

f  th    1  k        d    ki      fi    t  d     t  f    m  th    h   ght      d  I 

and  g  Id      1  f  tl  t 

Beltrami  Isla>d  of  Lake  A(,Asbiz. 
The  only  large  island  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz  was  between  Red 
lake  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  in  Beltrami  and  Roseau  counties.  The 
highest  parts  of  that  island,  which  was  named  in  1893  for  Beltrami,  are 
about  130  feet  above  Red  lake  and  1310  feet  above  the  sea.  When  the 
glacial  lake  had  fallen  to  the  contour  line  of  1200  feet,  the  higher  Bel- 
trami island  had  an  area  of  about  1160  square  miles.  (Journal  of  Geology, 
Vol.  XXIII,  pages  780-4,  Nov.-Dec,  191S.) 


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BENTON  COUNTY 

This  county,  one  of  the  first  established  in  Minnesota  Territory,  Octo- 
ber 27,  1849,  and  organiied  January  7,  1850.  was  named  for  Thomas 
Hart  Benton,  who  was  United  States  senator  from  Missouri  during 
thirty  yea  s  I82I  to  1851  He  was  born  ear  H  Usborough  N  C  Marci 
14  1  &.  and  ded  Wash  ngton  Ap  1  10  1*458  He  nd  ed  law  and 
was  adm  tted  to  the  bar  n  Na  h  He  n  1811  was  an  a  de  de  canp  of 
Genera!  Jack  on  n  the  War  of  1812  and  also  ra  ed  a  reg  ment  of  vol 
untee  s  removed  to  St  Lou  s  n  1815  and  establ  shed  a  ew  paper  wh  ch 
V  gorousl)  advfieited  the  adm  so  of  M  s  o  r  to  the  Un  on  and  i 
1820  he  was  ele  ed  as  o  e  of  the  senate  s  of  the  new  s  a  e  In  C  ngres 
h  s  vork  for  the  kj  g  nal  ena  tn  ent  of  homestead  land  laws  18  4  28 
won  the  g  at  tude  of  p  neer  settle  s  thr  ughout  the  West  He  s  also 
ho  red  by  Bent  n  town  h  p  n  Carver  co  ntv  and  by  the  ame  f  Lake 
Benton  n  L  ncoln  count>  appl  ed  bj  N  col  et  1  exped  o  o  18j8. 
Se  en  o  her  st  te  have  o  nt  es  na  ned  f  o  h  m  and  t  entj  tates  have 
ctes  vUage  a  d  po  office  of  h  nan  e  In  1899  I  statue  v.a 
placed  in  the  Nat  onal  Statuarj  Hal  at  tl  e  Cap  toi  Wash  ngton  as  one 
of  the  two  represent  ng  M   sou 

Benton  vas  the  a  tho  of  Th  ty  Year  V  ew  H  story  of  the  Amer 
can  Government,  1820-1850,  published  in  two  volumes,  1854  and  1856. 
During  the  last  two  years  of  his  life,  with  singular  literary  industry,  he 
prepared  the  manuscript  of  his  "Abridgment  of  the  Debates  of  Congress, 
from  1789  to  1856,"  which  was  published  in  sixteen  volumes,  1857  to 
1863.  Several  biographies  of  him  have  been  issued,  one  by  Theodore 
Roosevelt  in  1887  being  in  the  "American  Statesmen"  series. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  gathered  from  the  "History  of 
the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley,"  1831,  pages  340-369;  from  records  in  the 
office  of  J.  E.  Kastier,  county  auditor,  at  Foley,  in  a  visit  there  in  May, 
1916;  from  William  H.  Fletcher,  of  Sauk  Rapids,  chairman  of  the  board 
of  county  commissioners ;  and  from  Hon.  Charles  A.  Gllman,  of  St. 
Cloud,  who  was  a  prominent  pioneer  of  Benton  county. 

Alberta  township,  organized  in  1858,  was  named  for  one  oE  its  early 
settlers,  a  farmer  whose  first  name  was  Albert. 

DUBLM,  a  hamlet  in  section  34,  St.  George,  was  named  by  its  German 
settlers. 

East  St.  Cloud,  in  this  county,  is  a  part  of  the  city  of  St.  Cloud,  which 
is  mainly  in  Stearns  county,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  but  also  reaches 
east  of  the  river  into  Benton  and  Sherburne  counties. 


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50  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

FoLEv,  a  railway  village  and  the  county  seat,  was  named  for  John 
Foley,  its  founder,  one  of  five  brothers  who  came  to  this  state  fnm  Lan- 
ark county,  Ontario.  When  this  hne  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  was 
built,  in  1882-4,  John  and  others  of  the  brothers  were  contractors,  camp- 
ing on  the  site  of  this  village,  and  he  acquired  lands  here.  Later  he 
led  in  the  effort,  1901-02,  of  transferring  the  county  seat  from  Sauk 
Rapids  to  this  place.    He  died  in  St.  Paul,  August  11,  1908, 

GlLMANToN  township,  organized  in  1866,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Qiarles  Andrew  Oilman,  who  was  born  ia  Gilmanton,  N.  H.,  February 
9,  1833;  came  to  Sauk  Rapids,  Minn.,  in  1855,  and  removed  to  St.  Cloud 
in  1861.  He  was  receiver,  and  afterward  register,  of  the  U,  S.  land  of- 
fice in  St.  Cloud  for  several  years;  was  a  member  of  the  state  senate, 
1868-9,  and  of  the  House,  1875-9,  being  speaker  the  last  two  years,  and 
again  was  a  member  of  the  House  in  1915 ;  was  lieutenant  governor,  1880- 
7;  and  state  librarian,  1894-9.  During  about  thirty  years  he  was  much 
engaged  in  lumbering  in  Benton  and  Morrison  counties,  and  he  located 
many  permanent  settlers  in  this  township. 

Glendorado  township,  organized  September  20,  1868,  received  tliis 
name  (partly  Spanish,  meaning  the  golden  glen)  by  petition  of  its  settlers. 

Granite  Ledge  township  was  named  for  its  granite  rock  outcrops  in 
sections  l/,   18,  20,  and  24,  the  last  being  on  the  West  branch  of  Rum 

Graham  township  was  named  for  one  of  its  pioneer  farmers. 

LangoIa  township,  organized  July  12,  1858,  has  a  unique  name,  un- 
known elsewhere,  proposed  by  its  petitioners  for  organization. 

Mayhew  Lake  township,  and  also  its  lake  and  creek  of  this  name,  are 
in  honor  of  George  V.  Mayhew,  who  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  K. 
Y.,  February  18,  1824;  served  in  the  Mexican  War;  came  to  Minnesota  in 
1854,  and  settled  in  the  present  Minden  township  of  this  county,  beside  the 
creek  named  for  him;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  1861;  and 
served  in  the  Seventh  Minnesota  regiment  in  the  civil  war,  becoming  a 
first  lieutenant 

Maywood  township,  organized  in  1867,  received  this  euphonious  name 
on  the  request  of  its  settlers.  New  Jersey,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Missouri,  and  Nebraska,  also  have  villages  so  named. 

Minden  township,  organized  in  1858,  received  its  name  from  an  east- 
em  state,  or  more  probably  it  was  given  by  immigrants  from  Germany,  for 
the  ancient  city  of  Minden  in  Prussia. 

Oak  Park,  a  railway  village  In  Maywood,  is  named  for  the  oak  groves 

Parent,  a  small  railway  village  in  St.  George  township,  was  named  for 
Auguste  Parent  and  others  of  bis  family  there,  farmers,  of  French  de- 
scent 

Rice,  a  railway  village  in  Langola,  is  in  honor  of  George  T.  Rice,  who 
kept  a  hotel  about  three  fourths  of  a  mile  farther  west  for  the  stag.;  travel 


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BENTON  COUNTY  51 

previous  to  tb'.  Duilding  o£  this  railway.  His  name  was  also  given  to  an 
extensile  prairie  that  includes  the  western  two  thirds  of  LangoU  and  the 
northwest  part  of  Watab, 

RoNNEBY,  another  railway  village,  in  Maywood,  was  named  from  a  towH 
near 'Kariskrona  in  southern  Sweden,  on  'he  River  Eonneby  near  its  mouth 
in  the  Baltic  Sea. 

St.  Geohge  township,  organized  September  li^  1858,  was  nanied  in  com- 
pliment to  three  prominent  early  settlers  of  the  soL,*h  part  of  this  county, 
George  V.  Mayhew,  George  Mclntyre,  and  another  whi.  had  the  same  first 

Sartei,!.,  a  railway  village,  organized  in  November,  1907,  adjoining  the 
Mississippi  in  Sauk  Rapids  township,  with  extension  west  of  the  river  in 
Le  Sauk,  Stearns  county,  was  named  for  Joseph  B.  Sartelt,  who  was  the 
first  settler  of  the  west  side,  coming  in  1854  as  a  farmer.  Later  he  built 
and  operated  sawmills.  He  resided  there,  with  seven  sons,  until  his  death, 
January  27,  1913,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years. 

Sauk  Rapids  township  was  organized  in  1854,  and  the  village  was 
platted  in  that  year  but  was  not  separately  organized  until  1881,  This  vil- 
lage was  the  county  seat  from  the  organization  of  the  county  in  1850  until 
1902,  when  the  county  offices  were  removed  to  Foley,  as  before  noted 
Sauk  Rapids  derived  its  name  from  the  adjoining  rapids  of  the  Mississippi, 
called  Grand  Rapids  by  Pike  in  1805  and  mapped  by  him  as  Big  Falls,  fall- 
ing about  20  feet  in  the  first  mile  below  the  mouth  of  the  Sauk  river, 
mapped  by  Pike  as  Sack  river,  which  comes  in  from  Stearns  county. 

The  origin  of  the  names  of  Sauk  river  and  of  Osakis  lake  and  village 
at  its  source,  in  Todd  and  Douglas  counties,  as  also  of  the  Sauk  lakes  and 
Little  Sauk  township  in  Todd  county,  of  Sauk  Center  and  Le  Sauk 
townships  in  Stearns  county,  of.  Sauk  Rajads,  and  of  Osauka,  an 
addition  recently  platted  at  the  northwest  edge  of  this  village,  was  from 
refugee  Sauk  or  Sac  Indians,  who  came  to  Osakis  lake  from  the  home  of 
this  tribe,-  allied  with  the  Fox  Indians,  in  Wisconsin.  This  was  told  in  a 
historical  paper  by  the  late  Judge  Loren  W.  Collins,  as  follows .  "Five 
Sacs,  refugees  from  their  own  tribe  on  account  of  murder  which  they  had 
committed,  made  thdr  way  up  to  the  lake  [Osakis]  and  settled  near  the 
outlet  upon  the  east  side.  .  .  On  -one  of  the  cKcursions  made  by  some  of 
the  Pillager  bands  of  Chippewas  to  the  asylum  of  the  0-zau-kees,  it  was 
found  that  all  had  been  killed,  supposedly  by  the  Sioux."  (History  of 
Stearns  county,  1915,  vol.  1,  page  24,) 

Watab  township,  organized  in  1858,  like  its  Indian  trading  post,  which 
had  been  established  ten  years  earlier,  was  named  for  the  Watab  river, 
called  Little  Sack  river  by  Pike,  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  from  the  west 
about  five  miles  north  of  St.  Qoud.  This  is  the  Ojibway  word  for  the  long 
and  very  slender  roots  of  both  the  tamarack  and  jack  pine,  which  were  dug 
by  the  Indians,  split  and  used  as  threads  in  sewing  their  birch  bark 
canoes.  Both  these  coniferous  trees  grow  on  or  near  the  lower  part  of 
the  Watab  river. 


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52  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Rev.  F,  W.  Smith,  an  Ojibway  pastor,  of  Red  Lake  Agency,  informed 
the  present  writer  in  J8S5,  during  my  visit  there,  that  in  northern  Minne- 
sota the  Ojibways  principally  use  the  wjots  of  the  jack  pine  as  watab,  al- 
though the  roots  of  both  tamarack  and  arbor  vitae  are  also  somewhat  ured 
(Minn.  Geol.  and  Nat,  Hist.  Survey,  Bulletin  No.  3,  1887,  page  53).  The 
name  of  this  river  and  township  doubtless  refers  to  the  jack  pines  there, 
this  being  at  the  southwest  limit  of  that  species,  whereas  the  geographic 
range  of  the  tamarack  extends  considerably  farther  south  and  west 

The  trading  post  named  Watab  was  about  two  miles  and  a  half  north 
from  the  mouth  of  this  river  and  on  the  opposite  or  eastern  side  of  the 
Mississippi.  During  about  ten  years  nest  following  its  eatablishnient  in 
IS48,  Watab  was  the  most  Jraportant  commercial  place  in  Minnesota  Terri- 
tory northwestward  from  St.  Paul,  but  later  it  was  superseded  by  Sauk 
Rapids  and  St.  Cloud,  and  before  1880  the  village  of  Watab  entirely  dis- 
appeared. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  name  of  the  Mississippi  was  fully  noticed  in  the  first  chapter; 
the  Elk  and  St  Francis  rivers  are  considered  in  the  chapter  for  Sher- 
burne and  Anoka  counties,  which  respectively  have  the  village  and  town- 
ship of  Elk  River  and  St.  Francis  township ;  and  a  preceding  page  gives 
the  origin  of  the  name  of  Mayhew  lake  and  creek. 

Donovan  lake,  in  section  34,  Minden,  named  for  John  Donovan,  a  farm- 
er near  it,  was  formerly  called  Minden  lake. 

Halfway  brook,  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  close  north  of  Sartell,  re- 
ceived this  name  for  its  being  nearly  midway  between  Sauk  Rapids  and 
Watab. 

The. southern  two  thirds  of  Watab  township  has  many  outcrops  of 
granite  and  syenite,  continuing  from  their  much  quarried  area  in  Sauk 
Rapids  and  East  St.  Cloud.  At  each  side  of  the  river  road,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Watab  railway  station,  small  hills  and  knobs  of  these  rocks  rise 
about  40  feet  above  the  road  and  75  to  90  feet  above  the  river.  One  of 
these  hills  of  rough,  bald  rock,  called  by  Schooicraft  the  Peace  Rock,  rises 
directly  from  the  river's  edge  about  a  half  mile  south  from  the  motilh  of 
Little  Rock  creek,  which,  with  its  Little  Rock  lake,  was  thence  so  named. 
It  is  a  translation  of  the  Ojibway  name,  signifying,  as  more  elaborately 
stated  by  GiKiitlan,  "where  the  little  rocky  hills  projeei  out  every  once  in 
a  while,  here  and  there."  Pike  noted  the  large  prairie  here  and  northward 
as  favorite  grazing  for  elk,  and  he  therefore  mapped  these  as  Elk  lake  and 
Lake  river. 

Peace  Rock  was  named  for  its  marking,  with  the  Watab  river,  a  part 
of  the  old  tine  of  boundary  between  the  Ojibways  and  the  Sioux,  to  which 
agreement  was  made  by  their  chiefs  in  the  Treaty  of  1825  at  Prairie  du 
Chien. 


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BIG  STONE  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  February  20,  18fi2,  and  organized  April  IJ, 
1874,  derived  its  name  from  Big  Stone  lake,  through  which  the  Mitinesota 
river  flows  on  the  west  boundary  of  the  county  and  state.  It  is  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  name,  alluding  to  the  conspicuous  outcrops  of 
granite  and  gneiss,  extensively  quarried,  which  occur  in  the  Minnesota 
valley  from  a  half  mile  to  three  miles  below  the  foot  of  the  lake.  The  city 
and  county  building  in  Minneapolis  is  constructed  of  rhe  stone  from  these 
quarries,  which  also  supplied  four  massive  columns  of  the  state  capitol 
rotunda,  on  its  north  and  south  sides.  The  Sioux  name,  poorly  pronounced 
and  indistinctly  heard,  was  written  Eatakeka  by  Keating  in  his  Narrative 
of  Long's  Expedition  in  1823;  but  Prof.  A.  W.  Williamson  more  correctly 
spelled  it  in  two  words,  Inyan  tankinyanyan,  the  first  meaning  stone, 
the  second  very  great,  as  shown  by  the  repetition  of  the  tirst  word  and 
duplication  of  its  final  syllable. 

Big  Stone  lake  extends  in  a  somewhat  crooked  course  from  northwest 
to  southeast  twenty-six  miles ;  its  width  is  one  mile  to  one  and  a  half 
miles ;  and  its  greatest  depth  is  reported  to  be  from  15  to  30  feet. 

De  L'Isle's  map  of  Canada  or  New  France  in  1703  calls  this  ihe  Lake 
of  the  Tintons,  that  is,  the  Prairie  Sioux.  The  same  name  is  given  by 
the  maps  of  Buache,  1754,  and  Bellin,  1755.  Carver,  who  was  on  the 
Minnesota  river  in  1765-7,  mapped  this  lake  but  left  it  unnamed.  Long's 
expedition  gave  its  earliest  correct  delineation,  with  its  present  name  and 
the  older  equivalent  Sioux  and  French  names. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  has  been  gathered  from  "History  of  the  Minnesota  Val- 
ley," 1882,  pages  973-986 ;  and  from  Hayden  French,  of  Ortonville,  clerk 
of  the  court  for  this  county,  and  Martin  Irwin  Matthews,  who  for  many 
years  was  one  of  the  county  commissioners  and  later  has  been  the  muni- 
cipal judge  in  Ortonville,  each  being  interviewed  during  a  visit  there  in 
September,  1916. 

Akron  township,  first  settled  in  1872,  and  organized  July  25,  1881,  was 
named  for  Akron,  Ohio,  whence  some  of  its  pioneers  came. 

Almond  township,  organized  March  29,  1880,  was  named  for  the  town- 
ship and  village  of  this  name  in  Allegany  county,  New  York,  or  for  Al- 
mond township  and  village  in  Portage  county,  Wisconsin. 

AsricaoKE  township,  whose  first  settler  came  in  May,  1869,  received  its 
name  from  the  former  Artichoke  lake,  now  drained,  which  was  five  miles 
long,  stretching  from  section  11  south  to  section  36.  This  name  was  prob- 
ably translated  from  the  Sioux  name  of  the  lake,  referring  to  the  edible 


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54  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

tuber  roots  of  a  species  of  sunflower  (Helianthus  tuberosus),  which  was 
much  used  by  the  Indians  as  food,  called  pangi  by  the  Sioux,  abundant 
here  and  common  or  frequent  throughout  this  state. 

Babky,  a  railway  village  in  Toqua  township,  was  named  in  honor  of 
the  Barry  brothers,  homesteading  farmers  there,  who  came  from  Lowell, 

Beahdsley,  the  railway  village  of  Brown's  Valley  township,  was  named 
for  W.  W.  Beardsley,  who  platted  it  in  November,  1880,  He  was  born  in 
Schuyler  county.  New  York,  in  1852;  removed  to  Pennsylvania  at  the  ag« 
of  twenty-one  years,  and  to  Wisconsin  in  1875;  came  to  Minnesota  in 
1878,  homesteading  the  farm  which  included  the  site  of  this  village. 

Big  Stone  township,  organized  October  4,  1879,  received  its  name,  like 
the  county,  from  the  adjoining  lake. 

Brown's  Valley  township,  first  settled  in  )875  and  organized  April  S, 
1880,  was  named  by  Thomas  Bailey,  a  homesteader  there  who  came  from 
Tennessee.  The  name  was  taken  from  the  very  remarkable  valley  be- 
tween lakes  Big  Stone  and  Traverse,  ia  which  a  trading  post  and  the  vil- 
lage of  this  name  had  been  established  by  Hon.  Joseph  R.  Brown,  situat- 
ed in  the  southwest  corner  of  Traverse  county.  Brown  county  was  named 
for  him,  and  biographic  notes  are  given  in  its  chapter. 

Clinton,  a  railway  village  at  the  center  of  Almond  township,  was 
named  probably  for  one  of  the  many  villages,  towns,  and  counties  bearing 
this  name,  which  are  found  in  our  eastern  and  southern  states. 

CoREELL,  a  village  on  the  main  line  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St. 
Paul  railway,  bears  a  personal  name  given  by  the  officers  of  the  railway. 
Its  more  definite  derivation  has  not  been  learned. 

FosTEK,  a  village  of  summer  residences  on  the  shore  of  Big  Stone  lake, 
in  Prior  township,  was  platted  in  1880  on  the  pre-emption  claim  of  M.  I. 
Matthews,  who  settled  there  in  1872.  It  was  named  for  Foster  L.  Balch, 
of  Minneapolis,  president  of  the  Big  Stone  Lake  Navigation  and  Im- 
provement Company. 

Graceville  township  and  its  village,  which  was  founded  by  Catholic 
colonists  in  1877-8,  were  named  in  honor  of  Thomas  Langdon  Grace,  who 
during  twenty-five  years  was  the  bishop  of  St.  Paul,  1859  to  1884.  He  was 
born  in.  Charleston,  S.  C,  Nov.  IS,  1814,  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  Feb.  22.  1897. 

Malta  township,  organized  February  14,  1880,  was  at  first  named 
Oarksville,  for  David  K.  J.  Qark,  its  first  settler,  who  came  in  June,  1876. 
It  was  renamed,  after  a  town  of  New  York  and  villages  in  Ohio  and  Illi- 
nois, for  the  island  of  Malta  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

Moonshine  township  took  its  name  from  its  Moonshine  lake  which  was 
named  by  D.  K.  J.  Clark,  mentioned  as  a  settler  in  Malta.  On  his  first 
coming  here  in  1876  from  Wabasha  county,  his  first  camp  was  beside  this 
lake,  which  he  then  named,  intending  to  call  it  Moon  lake  for  the  surname 
of  his  wife,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  (Moon)  Clark;  but  in  the  evening  the  bright 
moonlight  caused  the  name  to  be  thus  changed. 


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BIG  STONE  COUNTY  55 

Odessa  township,  first  settled  in  June,  1870,  was  named  for  the  eit^  of 
Odessa  in  southern  Russia,  whence  seed  wheat  used  in  this  vicinity  was 
brought.  The  railway  village  of  Odessa  was  platted  in  1879,  when  this 
railway  was  being  built. 

OitTONviLLe  township  received  its  first  settlers  in  1871,  and.  in  Septem- 
ber of  the  next  year  its  village  was  platted  by  Cornelius  Knute  Orton.  for 
whom  the  village  and  township  were  named.  He  was  of  Norwegian  de- 
scent and  was  born  in  Dane  county,  Wisconsin,  in  1846;  came  to  Minne- 
sota in  1857 ;  settled  on  a  land  claim  here  in  1871 ;  engaged  in  real  estate 
business,  and  was  a  banker,  merchant,  and  a  member  of  the  board  of  coun- 
ty commissioners.  He  died  in  Ortonville,  December  24,  1890.  This  village 
was  organized  as  a  city  on  January  28,  1881, 

Oteby  township,  first  settled  by  Thomas  and  William  Otrey  ffom  Illi- 
nois in  June,  1869,  was  organized  February  14,  1880,  It  was  then  named 
Trenton,  but  later  was  renamed  in  honor  o£  these  brothers,  who  had  served 
in  the  civil  war. 

Prior  township,  settled  in  1870  and  organized  in  1879,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Charles  H.  Prior,  of  Minneapolis,  superintendent  of  this  Hastings 
and  Dakota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway. 
He  had  large  land  interests  in  this  township  and  in  Ortonville. 

TOQUA  township  (formerly  spelled  Tokua),  first  settled  in  1877  and  or- 
ganized March  16,  1880,  received  its  name  from  the  two  Tokua  lakes  in 
Graceville  and  the  similar  pair  of  lakes  in  this  township,  which  latter  were 
.  called  by  the  Sioux,  as  translated,  the  Tokua  Brothers  lakes.  This  aborigi- 
nal name  is  spelled  Ta  Kara  on  Nicollet's  map,  1843,  Ta  being  the  Sioux 
word  for  the  moose,  while  Kara  doubtless  refers  to  the  Kahra  band  of  the 
Dakotas  or  Sioux. 

Keating,  the  historian  of  Long's  expedition  in  1823,  wrote  as  follows 
(in  his  Volume  I,  page  403),  describing  this  band.  "Kahea  (Wild  Rice). 
These  Indians  dwell  in  very  targe  and  fine  skin  lodges.  The  skins  are  well 
prepared  and  handsomely  painted.  They  have  no  permanent  residence,  Itut 
frequently  visit  Lake  Travers.  Their  hunting  grounds  are  on  Red  river. 
They  follow  Tatankanaje  (the  Standing  Buffalo),  who  is  a  chief  by 
hereditary  right,  and  who  has  acquired  distinction  as  a  warrior." 

Nicollet  also  used  the  word  Kara  as  the  final  part  of  other  names,  Plan 
Kara  and  Manstitsa  Kara,  given  on  his  map  to  two  points  or  hillocks  of 
the  valley  bluff  east  of  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Traverse,  Riggs,  how- 
ever, in  his  Dakota  Dictionary,  published  in  1852,  rejected  al!  use  of  the 
letter  r  in  that  language,  so  that  the  name  Kahra  or  Kara  may  not  be 
identifiable  in  that  work.  Tokua  (or  Toqua)  was  the  white  men's  endeavor 
to  spell  the  Sioux  name  for  these  pairs  of  lakes,  which  Nicollet  spelled  as 
Ta  Kara. 

Samuel  J.  Brown,  of  the  village  of  Brown's  Valley,  has  stated  that  this 
name  "was  taken  from  a  picture  carved  on  a  tree,  meaning  probably  some 
animal  so  pictured."  This  accords  well  with  the  meaning  of  the  name  given 


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56  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

by  Nicollet,  as  the  moose  of  the  Kara  or  Kahra  band  of  Siouxj  perhaps  a 
family  totem  or  their  mystic  patron  of  the  clan  (as  we  might  say,  a 
mascot). 

Lakes  and  Stkeams. 

Since  the  first  coming  of  the  homestead  farmers,  nearly  fifty  years 
ago,  the  area  of  this  county  has  witnessed  the  drying  up  of  many  of  its  for- 
mer shallow  lakes,  partly  because  plowing  and  cultivation  of  the  soil  per- 
mit the  rains  and  the  water  from  the  melting  of  the  winter  snows  to  sink 
in  larger  proportion  into  the  ground,  not  running  otf  to  the  hollows.  In 
recent  years  others  of  the  lakes  have  been  drained  by  ditches,  the  lake  beds 
being  allotted  fractionally  to  the  adjoining  landowners.  The  map  of  Big 
Stone  county  published  by  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  (vol.  I,  1884, 
Chapter  XXI)  has  more  than  fifty  lakes;  but  the  most  recent  Minnesota 
atlas,  in  1916,  shows  only  four  or  five  yet  remaining,  these  being  unnamed. 

Artichoke  and  Moonshine  lakes,  and  the  Tokua  lakes  and  Tokua  Broth- 
ers lakes,  noted  in  the  foregoing  list  of  townships,  have  disappeared  by 


Only  a  few  streams  of  noteworthy  size  and  bearing  names  flow  here  in- 
to the  Minnesota  river  and  Big  Stone  lake.  These  include  Five  Mile 
creek,  so  named  for  its  distance  west  of  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river  and 
the  village  of  Appleton,  in  the  adjoining  Swift  county;  Stony  run,  in  Big 
Stone  and  Odessa  townships,  named  for  the  plentiful  boulders  along  parts 
of  this  stream ;  and  Fish  creek,  tributary  to  Big  Stone  lake  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Prior. 

The   Glacial  River  Warren. 

Big  Stone  lake,  flowing  south  in  the  Minnesota  river,  and  Lake  Trav- 
erse, flowing  north  in  the  Bois  des  Sioux  and  Red  rivers,  are  on  the  oppo- 
site sides  of  a  continental  water  divide,  one  o£  these  lakes  sending  its  out- 
flow to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  other  to  Hudson  Bay.  But  they  He 
in  a  continuous  valley,  one  to  two  miles  wide,  which  was  evidently  chan- 
neled by  a  great  river  formerly  flowing  southward.  The  part  of  the 
ancient  watercourse  between  these  lakes,  a  distance  of  nearly  five  miles, 
is  widely  known  as  Brown's  Valley,  As  noticed  in  the  first  chapter  the 
former  river  here  outflowing  from  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz  in  the  Red 
river  basin  has  been  named  the  River  Warren,  in  honor  of  General  G.  K. 
Warren. 

Fifteen  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake,  the  Minnesota  river  flows  through 
Marsh  lake,  on  the  south  side  of  Akron,  now  mainly  drained,  which  for- 
merly was  four  miles  long  and  about  a  mile  wide.  It  was  so  named  from 
its  being  .^hallow  and  full  of  reeds  and  grass. 


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BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY 

This  county  was  established  March  5,  1853,  and  took  its  name  from  tlie 
Blue  Earth  river,  for  a  bluish  green  earth  that  was  used  by  the  Sissetou 
Sioux  as  a  pigment,  found  in  a  shaly  layer  of  the  rock  bluff  of  this  stream 
about  three  mites  from  its  mouth. 

The  blue  earth  was  the  incentive  and  cause  of  a  very  interesting  chap- 
ter of  our  earliest  history.  LeSueur,  the  French  explorer,  before  his  first 
return  to  France  in  1695,  had  discovered  the  locality  whence  the  savages 
procured  this  blue  and  green  paint,  which  he  thought  to  be  an  ore  of  cop- 
per, and  he  then  took  some  of  it  to  Paris,  submitted  it  to  L'Huillier,  one  of 
the  king's  assayers,  and  secured  the  royal  commission  to  work  the  mines. 
But  disasters  and  obstacles  deterred  him  from  this  project  until  four  years 
later,  when,  having  come  from  a  third  visit  in  France,  with  thirty  miners, 
to  Biloxi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  he  ascended  this  river  in  the 
year  1700,  using  a  sailing  and  rowing  vessel  and  two  canoes.  Coming  for- 
ward along  the  Minnesota  river,  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Blue  Earth 
river  on  the  last  day  in  September  or  the  first  in  October. 

LeSueur  spent  the  ensuing  year  on  this  river,  having  built  a  camp  or 
post  named  Fort  L'Huillier,  and  in  the  spring  mined  a  large  quantity  of  the 
supposed  copper  ore.  Taking  a  selected  portion  of  the  ore,  amounting  to 
two  tons,  and  leaving  a  garrison  at  the  fort,  LeSueur  again  navigated  near- 
ly the  whole  length  of  the  Mississippi,  and  arrived  at  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
in  February,  1702.  Thence  with  Iberville,  the  founder  and  first  governor  of 
Louisiana,  who  was  a  cousin  of  LeSueur's  wife,  he  sailed  for  France  in 
the  latter  part  of  April,  carrying  the  ore  or  blue  earth,  of  which,  however, 
nothing  more  is  known. 

Thomas  Hughes,  of  Mankato,  historian  of  the  city  and  county,  identi- 
fied in  1904  the  sites  of  Fort  L'Huillier  and  the  mine  of  the  blue  or  fsreen 
earth,  which  are  described  in  a  paper  contributed  to  the  Minnesota  Histori- 
cal Society  Collections    (vol.  XII,  pages  2S3-S). 

Penicaut's  Relation  of  LeSueur's  expedition  was  translated  by  Alfred 
J.  Hill  in  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections  (vol.  HI,  1880.  pages 
1-12)  ;  and  a  map  showing  the  locations  of  the  fort  and  mine,  ascertained 
by  Hughes,  was  published  in  1911  by  Winchell,  on  page  493,  "The  Abor- 
igines of  Minnesota."  From  that  expedition  and  the  mine,  we  have  the 
name  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  and  of  this  county,  and  also  of  the  town- 
ship and  city  of  Blue  Earth  in  Faribault  county. 

This  name  was  probably  received  by  LeSueur  and  his  party  from  that 
earlier  given  to  the  river  by  the  Sioux.  The  Relation  of  Penicaut,  how- 
ever, might  be  thought  to  indicate  otherwise,  as  follows ;  "We  called  this 
Green  river,  because  it  is  of  that  color  by  reason  of  a  green  earth  which, 
loosening  itself  from  the  copper  mines,  becomes  dissolved  in  it  and  makes 


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58  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

it  green."  In  the  language  of  the  Sioiw  the  same  word,  io,  is  used  both 
for  blue  and  green,  and  their  name  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  is  Makato 
(maka,  earth,  to,  blue,  or  green).  Keating  wrote,  in  the  Narrative  of 
Long's  expedition,  1823 :  "By  the  Dacotas  it  is  called  MakatJ  Osa  Watapa, 
which  signifies  'the  river  where  blue  earth  is  gathered.' " 

The  Sioux  name  is  retained,  with  slight  change,  by  the  township  and 
city  of  Mafnkato.  On  the  earliest  map  of  Minnesota  Territory,  in  1850,  it 
appeared  as  Mahkahta  for  one  of  its  original  nine  counties,  reaching  from 
the  Mississippi  above  the  Crow  Wing  west  to  the  Missouri. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  of  the  local  names  has  been  gathered  from 
"History  of  the  Minnesota  Valley,"  1882,  pages  532-637;  from  "The  Stand- 
ard Historical  and  Pictorial  Atlas  and  Gazetteer  of  Blue  Earth  County," 
1895,  147  pages;  from  the  "History  of  Blue  Earth  Coiiniy,"  by  Thomas 
Hughes,  1909,  622  pages ;  and  from  Evan  Hughes,  judge  of  probate,  An- 
drew G.  Johnson,  county  treasurer,  Thomas  Hughes,  and  Judge  Lorin 
Cray,  during  my  visits  in   Mankato  in  July  and  0  t  b        1916 

Amboy,  the  railway  village  of  Shelby  t  hpw  plttdOt  her  31, 
18:«1,  and  was  named  by  Robert  Richards  t  fi  t  p  t  t  d  mer- 
chant, for  the  town  of  his  former  home  in  III 

Beaufosd  township  was  originally  establ  1    d 
neshiek  (the  Winnebago  chief  for  whom 
April  16,  1858,  when  it  was  in  the  Winneb  g    I  ( 
organized  March  13,  1865,  with  the  pre  i 

Gates,  "after  a  town  in  the  east,  from  wh    h 
come."     (The  U.  S.  Postal  Guide  form    ly  i   d 
name,  this  being  in  Floyd  county,  Virginia    b  t  t  w 
years  ago.     Beaufort,  nearly  the  same,  i 

Bkadlsy  railway  station,  five  miles  no 
the  Bradley  crossing  o£  the  Minnesota  r 
family,  on  whose  farm  this  station  was  1 

Butternut  Valley  township,  establ  h  d  Tan  y  6  1857  organ- 
ized in  May,  1858,  was  named  in  acco  d  w  th  th  gg  t  on  of 
Colonel  Samuel  D.  Shaw,  who  had  com  f  m  th  t  w  £  B  tternuts, 
in  Otsego  county.  New  York.  The  butter  t  t  mm  f  equent, 
especially  in  river  valleys,  through  the  soi  tl        t        pa  t    f  M  ta. 

Cambria  township,  first  settled  in  18S5,  organized  June  3,  1867.  was 
named  by  Robert  H.  Hughes,  a  pioneer  homesteader,  who  had  come 
from  Cambria,  Wisconsin.  This  was  the  ancient  Latin  name  of  Wales, 
the  native  land  of  nearly  all  the  settlers  here,  or  of  their  parents. 

CiaiEsco  township,  established  July  8,  1857,  organized  May  11,  1858, 
was  named  by  Isaac  Slocum,  for  his  former  home  town  in  Wisconsin. 

Cray,  a  railway  station  eight  miles  west  of  Mankato,  was  named  for 
Judge  Lorin  Cray,  who  during  many  years  was  the  Mankato  attorney  of 
this  Chicago,  St.  Paul,   Minneapolis  and  Omaha  railway  company. 


d     th 

m      £  Win- 

ty    f  I  w 

med). 

R     rv 

t          It  was 

gg    t 

1  ^     Albert 

f  tl 

1 1  rs  had 

P 

t!        f  this 

w     d         t 

m    d    everal 

t  g    gr 

ph       ame.) 

I     k  t 

med  for 

bl    h  d  by 

tl     Bradley 

(^t         tt, 

p   169) 

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BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY  59 

Danville  township,  established  April  6,  1858,  was  then  named  Jack- 
son; hut  hecause  an  earlier  township  o£  Minnesota  had  that  name,  it  was 
changed  October  14,  1858,  in  compliment  to  Lucius  Dyer,  a  settler  who 
had  come  from  Danville,  Vermont. 

Decobia,  township,  named  April  6,  1858,  was  in  the  Winnebago  reser- 
vation, and  it  remained  without  organization  till  October  8,  1867,  being 
the  latest  organized  township  of  this  county.  The  name  is  in  comraer'- 
oration  of  a  Winnebago  chief,  called  "One-Eyed  Dekora,"  having  lost  an 
eye.  This  chief  and  the  tribe  aided  the  whites  during  the  Black  Hawk 
war  of  1832,  in  which  he  displayed  great  ability  and  courage.  He  lived 
through  the  removals  of  the  Winneb^oes  from  Wisconsin  to  northeast- 
em  Iowa  in  1837-38,  from  Iowa  to  Long  Prairie,  Minnesota,  in  1848,  thence 
to  Blue  Earth  county  in  1855,  next  to  a  reservation  in  Dakota,  1863,  and 
last  to  Nebraska  in  1866.  He  was  a  renowned  orator,  and  from  his 
prowess  in  war  and  influence  in  council  was  known  among  his  own  peo- 
ple as  Waukon  Decorah,  meaning  in  translation  "Wonderful  Decorah." 
Two  important  towns  of  Iowa,  Waukon  and  Decorah,  which  are  the 
county  seats  of  its  most  northeast  counties  on  the  border  of  Minnesota, 
were  named  for  ham.  This  name,  variously  spelled  also  as  De  Kaury, 
Day  Kauray,  Day  Korah,  De  Corrah,  etc,  belonged  to  a  Winnebago  family 
of  hereditary  chiefs  through  four  generations  or  more,  who  had  descend- 
ed from  a  French  array  officer,  Sabrevoir  De  Carrie.  (Hodge,  Hand- 
book of  American  Indians,  vol.  I,  1907,  page  384 ;  Sparks,  History  of  Win- 
neshiek County,  Iowa,  1877;  Alexander,  History  of  Winneshiek  and  Alla- 
makee Counties,  Iowa,  1882.) 

Eagle  Lake,  a  railway  village  in  Le  Ray  township,  was  platted  in 
November,  1872,  and  received  its  name  from  the  neighboring  lake,  which 
had  been  so  named  by  the  United  States  land  surveyors  because  many 
bald  eagles  had  nests  in  high  trees  on  the  lake  shore. 

Garden  City  township  was  established  April  6,  18S8,  but  was  then 
named  Watonwan  for  the  river.  The  village  had  been  platted  in  June, 
18S6,  being  flamed  Fremont  for  John  C.  Fremont,  the  Republican  can- 
didate for  president  in  the  campaign  of  that  year.  In  October,  1SS8, 
it  was  replatted  by  Simeon  P.  Folsom,  who  renamed  it  Garden  City,  hav- 
ing reference  to  the  native  floral  charms  of  the  place.  Steimett  wrote  of 
it,  "Even  to  this  day,  in  the  spring  the  surrounding  country  is  like  a  gar- 
den of  wild  Bowers."  In  February,  1864,  the  township  was  changed  to 
Garden  City  by  an  act  of  the  state  legislature.  The, name  here  ante- 
dates it  on  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  where  the  only  town  so  named  in  the 
eastern  states  was  founded  in  1869  by  A,  T.  Stewart,  the  multimillionaire 
merchant. 

Good  Thundeb,  the  railway  village  of  Lyra  township,  platted  in  April, 
1871,  and  incorporated  March  2,  1893,  was  named  for  a  chief  of  the 
Winnebagoes,  whose  village  was  close  east  of  this  site.  The  ford  of  the 
Maple  river  here  had  been  previously  called  Good  Thunder's  ford.    He 


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60  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

f       d     f  fh       h  t    p    pi         d        186,      f      d  tl  t  f 

thb  ftlWbgtj  th  tbkdm 

f  th       1  t       ttl  H    d    d  I  J  It  th    M 

ft      th  1    f  h     t  b    1     D  k  t 

Th     w       1      th  f      S  W    ki    ya  t  tit 

Good  Th     d       wh    1  k  w      f       dly  t    t!     wl  t      b  g  G 

ISblj       hff  td       gh         pdt  g       tthSujL 

ft      th     m  H  t  d  t     1         Ch     t  ISbl       d 

w      th    fi    t  S  b  pt      d  by  B    h  p  lA  h  ppl  g  tl        tl        am 

Ad  Hid  f  til  fBhCljddg 

myy  th  dftS  hhl    1889 1  g      t 

f  th       11  g      f  G    d  Th     d  t       1  b    t         f  th    F      th     f  J  ly 

wh      h        d  m    y    f  t    p    pi    th     ght  th        m      f  th       I!  g    t    h 
bengi  Ih  Tk  bthphftht 

d  y   t  w  h     t       d      (G     d  Tl      d      H      Id   F  b   21    19an     H 

d    d    t  th    S  A.g  R  dw  t>d  F  11     F  b      rj  15    1901    P 

t     t      f  th     G    d  Th     d  d  1  f  g  Tl      \b     j, 

f  M  t        t  p  fe     ■;»  b  t  h        tl  1        11  d      W 

b  g  d         th      p     t      t     f  h  Wl  ppl         L gl  t         d  :bl    d 

f     1     g  Ep       p  t        t  p  E    128 

It  m    t  p    I  bl    th  t     h      tl  m    w      fi    t    h  f      th 

11  g       1th     gh  th     g      t  mb        f  th  m    g,    t  i    d  d 

th    V/        b  g      1     f     th         f  th  m      d  th  t        pp      d 

t  t     b     f        h     S  t    th  pi  ry  Ch     t  t      Both 

th       I  d  t     ij  y      11  k     w    by  tl     p    pi      f  tl      t 

hp      d  tj 

J         TONhlffg  mttwhpfistttld       ISSr       d 

g  d  M  11  18=18  then  Idgl  LRyt  hpw  md 
bE      1GB    kh      t  h  fthfitEglhdyfV 

g  Th        mth       wg         th  JmlKgfEgld 

in  1603    S 

J        Nt         hp      ga       dMyll   1858  w  m  d  by  R  b    t  P  t 

t  1  f  th    g      t  B  pt   t  m  P  tt  h  d       1 

pi  tt  d       d  d  J  d  li         D         b      10    1856     Ad         m  J  d 

son  was  born  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  August  9,  1788;  and  died  at  sea,  April 
12,  1850.  He  went  to  Burma  as  a  missionary  in  1812,  completed  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bibk  into  Burmese  in  1833,  and  completed  a  Burmese-Eng- 
lish dictionary  in  1849. 

Lake  Chystal,  a  railway  village  and  junction,  platted  in  May,  1869, 
incorporated  by  the  legislature  February  24,  1870,  was  named  by  Gen. 
Judson  W.  Bishop,  of  St.  Paul,  engineer  of  the  survey  and  construction 
of  this  railway,  for  the  adjoining  lake,  which,  according  to  Stennett, 
"was  named  by  John  C.  Fremont  and  J.  N.  Nicollet,  who  explored  the 
country  around  it  in  1838,  because  of  the  unusual  brilliancy  and  crystal 
purity  of  its  waters."  (This  lake  and  the  others  near  are  unnamed  on 
Nicollet's  map,  1843.) 


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BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY  61 

Le  Ray  township,  first  settled  in  I85S,  organized  in  1860,  was  at  first 
named  Lake  and  was  renamed  Tivoli,  but  on  September  5,  1850,  received 
its  present  name.  The  only  use  of  this  name  elsewhere  is  for  a  township 
of  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  whence  probably  some  of  the  settlers  here 
had  come. 

Lime  township,  organized  May  U,  1858,  was  named  by  George  Stan- 
nard  for  its  extensive  outcrops  ol  limestone,  which  have  since  been  much 
quarried. 

Lincoln  township,  settled  in  18S6,  was  at  first  named  Richfield,  April 
6,  18S8 ;  but  it  remained  without  separate  organization  until  September 
26,  1865,  when  it  was  renamed  for  the  martyred  War  President. 

LvEA  township,  at  first  named  Tecumseh,  April  16,  1858,  was  renamed 
Winneshiek  in  May,  1866;  but  at  the  time  of  its  organization,  September 
22,  1866,  it  was  finally  named  Lyra,  as  proposed  by  Rev.  J,  M.  Thurston, 
"after  a  town  he  had  come  from  in  the  east"  (It  appears  in  our  east- 
ern states  only  as  a  post  office  in  Scioto  county,  Ohio.)  "It  comes  to  us 
from  ancient  mythology  and  was  originally  used  to  designate  a  northern 
constellation,  ...  as  it  was  supposed  to  represent  the  lyre  carried  by 
Apollo." 

McPheeson  was  at  first  named  Rice  Lake  township,  August  21,  1855 ; 
was  renamed  McClellan,  for  Gen.  George  B.  McQellan,  September  2, 
1863;  and  received  its  present  name  by  an  act  of  the  state  legislature  in 
February,  186S,  in  honor  of  Gen.  James  B,  McPherson.  He  was  born  in 
Sandusky,  Ohio,  November  14,  1828;  was  graduated  at  West  Point, 
1853;  was  appointed  a  major  general  in  1862;  served  with  distinction  in 
the  siege  ad  ap  e  f  V  kbug;  became  commander  of  the  Army 
of  the  Ten  e    ee  g  of  1864;  and  was  killed  near  Atlanta,  Ga., 

July  22,  1864 

Madison   Lake    a     a      a  ge  in  Jamestown,  was  named   for  the 

adjoining  ake  wh  h  1  ad  been  so  named  by  the  government  surveyors 
in  honor  of  James  Mad  on  fourt  president  of  the  United  States,  1809-17. 
Mankato  ownsh  p  w  s  e  ab  shed  April  6,  1858,  and  was  organized 
in  connect  on  w  he  p  e  ent  t  of  Mankato,  May  11,  1858.  The  city 
charter  wa  adop  ed  Ma  h  24  1868  and  the  first  election  of  the  township, 
separate  from  the  city,  was  held  April  7,  1868.  The  first  settlement  of 
Mankato  and  of  this  county  was  in  February.  1852,  by  Parsons  King  John- 
son; and  on  the  14th  of  that  month  the  Blue  Earth  Settlement  Claim  As- 
sociation was  organized  in  St.  Paul  by  Henry  Jackson,  P.  K.  Johnson, 
Col.  D.  A.  Robertson,  Justus  C.  Ramsey,  brother  of  the  governor  of  the 
Territory,  and  others.  Hughes  writes  of  their  choice  of  the  name  for 
the  settlement  to  be  founded,  as  follows :  "The  honor  of  christening 
the  new  city  was  accorded  to  Mrs.  P,  K,  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Henry  Jack- 
son, who  selected  the  name  'Mankato,'  upon  the  suggestion  of  Col.  Rob- 
ertson. He  had  taken  the  name  from  Nicollet's  book,  in  which  the  French 
explorer  compared  the  'Mahkato'  or  Blue  Earth  river,  with  all  its  tribu- 
taries,  to  the  water  nymphs  and   their  uncle   in   the  German  legend   of 


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62  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

'Undine.'  ...  No  more  appropriate  name  could  be  given  the  new  city, 
than  that  of  the  noble  river  at  whose  mouth  it  is  located" 

Mapleton,  first  settled  in  April,  1856,  was  named  Sherman  in  1858  for 
Isaac  Sherman,  an  old  settler  of  Danville,  or  perhaps  for  Asa  P.  Sher- 
man of  this  township.  It  was  organized,  with  its  first  town  meeting, 
April  2,  1861,  taking  its  present  name  from  the  Maple  river,  which  re- 
ceived this  name  from  the  government  surveyors  in  1854,  for  its  plenti- 
ful maple  trees.  The  site  of  the  railway  village  of  Mapleton  was  platted 
January  21,  1871,  and  it  soon  superseded  the  older  village  which  had 
been  platted  in  June,  1856. 

Medo,  a  township  of  the  Winnebago  reservation,  was  named  by  the 
county  commissioners  April  16,  18S8,  but  it  was  not  organized  unti! 
September  2,  1863.  This  is  a  Sioux  word,  meaning  a  species  of  plant 
(Apios  tuberosa),  which  has  roots  that  bear  small  tubers  much  used  by 
the  Indians  as  food.  It  is  common  or  frequent  through  the  south  half 
of  this  state,  extending  north  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river.  Dr.  Parry, 
with  Owen's  geological  survey  in  1848,  wrote  of  it  as  "Pomme  de  Terre  of 
the  French  voyageurs ;  Mdo,  or  wild  potato,  of  the  Sioux  Indians."  It 
is  also  called  ground-nut,  and  its  nutlike  tubers  grow  in  a  series  along  the 

Perth,  a  railway  station  in  Lincoln  township,  was  named  in  1905  from 
the  city  in  Scotland.  It  had  formerly  been  called  Iceland,  for  the  native 
island  of  some  of  its  immigrants. 

Pleasant  Mound  township  was  first  named  Otsego,  April  6,  1858; 
b«t  on  October  14  of  that  year  it  was  renamed  Willow.  Creek,  "probably 
an  eastern  name  familiar  to  some  old  settler."  There  is  a  creek  of  this 
name  in  the  east  part  of  the  township,  flowing  northeast  into  the  Blue 
Earth  river.  A  post  office  named  Pleasant  Mound  was  established  in 
1863  at  the  home  of  F.  0.  Marks,  near  a  series  of  hills  of  drift  gravel, 
called  kames,  in  section  25.  The  Sioux  name  of  these  hills,  according  to  , 
Hughes,  was  Icbokse  or  Repah  Kichakse,  meaning  "to  cut  in  the  middle, 
perhaps  from  the  fact  that  the  ridge  is  divided  into,  a  number  of  mounds, 
or  it  may  mean  "thrown  down  or  dumped  in  heaps,'  as  the  spelling  is  un- 
certain." September  6,  1865,  this  township  was  organized  and  was 
given  its  present  name,  on  the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Marks  and  John  S. 
Parks,  taken  like  that  of  the  post  office  from  the  knolly  gravel  ridge. 

Rapidan  township,  which  was  in  the  Winnebago  reservation,  was  Eft 
first  named  De  Soto,  April  16,  1858;  but  at  its  organization,  April  15,  1865, 
it  received  the  present  name,  suggested  by  C.  P.  Cook,  from  the  civil 
war,  for  the  Rapidan  river  of  Virginia.  This  name  is  also  given  to  rapids 
and  a  dam  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  in  the  northwest  part  of  this  town- 
ship, about  two  miles  west  of  Rapidan  village  on  the  railway, 

St.  Clkw.,  a  railway  terminal  village  in  McPherson  township,  is  on  the 
site  of  the  old  Winnebago  Agency,  where  after  the  removal  of  the  In- 
dians a  village  named  Hilton  vras  platted  on  land  of  Aaron  Hilton  in 


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BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY  63 

Its  name  was  changed  tn  St  Qair  by  officers  o£  the  Chicago  Mil 


M      land, 
kj  82 


K         kv       92  W 


P         N  m 
oi  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railways.) 

Vesnon  Centek  township,  settled  in  1855,  wa"!  at  first  named  Monte- 
video by  the  county  commissioners,  April  6,  185h  but  ten  dav=  later  they 
renamed  it  Vernon,  anid  on  October  14  of  the  same  >ear  they  changed 
this  to  the  present  name.  A  village  had  been  pUtted  here  m  June  1857. 
by  proprietors  who  came  from  Mount  Vernon  Ohio  two  of  whom  Lol. 
Benjamin  F.  Smith  and  Benjamin  MeCracken  gave  to  it  the  name  Ver- 
■  non.  The  many  villnges  and  cities  of  the  United  States  that  bear  this 
name,  including  the  home  o£  Washington  ic  Virginia  received  it  pnmar- 


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64  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

ily  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  English  admiral,  Edward  Vernon,  (1684- 
1757),  the  hero  of  the  expeditions  capturing  Porto  Bello  in  1739  and  at- 
tacking Cartagena  in  1741.  When  the  railway  was  built  through  this 
township  in  1879,  the  first  name  given  to  the  station  here  was  Edgewood, 
for  its  being  at  the  edge  of  a  grove ;  but  it  was  renamed  in  1885  for  the 
township,  although  neither  the  township  nor  the  station  is  quite  centrally 
situated. 

Lakes  and  Steeams. 

Minneopa  creek,  its  falls,  and  the  State  Park,  are  noted  in  a  later  part 
of  the  present  chapter. 

In  the  foregoi:^  notes  of  townships  and  villages,  other  streams  and 
lakes  have  been  noticed,  namely,  Maple  river,  Willow  creek  in  Pleasant 
Mound  township,  Lake  Cry&tal,  and  Eagle  and  Madison  lakes. 

The  United  States  surveyors  named  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madi- 
son lakes,  in  commemoration  of  the  early  presidents.  These  are  notably 
large  in  a  group  of  many  lakes,  the  first  and  second  being  in  the  south  edge 
of  LeSueur  county,  adjoining  Jamestown,  and  the  third  in  Jamestown 
and  Le  Ray.  Hughes  records  the  Sioux  name  of  Lake  Washington  as 
Okapah,  meaning  the  Choke  Cherry  lake,  and  of  I^ke  Madison  as  Wakon- 
seche,  that  is,  the  Evil  Spirit,  or  Abundant  Mystery,  or  the  Sacred  Shade. 

Government  surveyors  also  named  the  Maple  river,  which  the  Sioux 
called  the  Tewapa-Tankiyan  river  (meaning  Big  Water-Lily  root),  and 
the  Big  Cobb  river,  which  bore  a  Sioux  name,  Tewapadan  (Little  Lily 
root.)  The  names  used  by  the  Indians,  copied  thus  from  Nicollet's  map 
(1843),  referred  to  the  roots  which  they  dug  for  food  in  the  shallow 
water  of  these  streams  and  their  tributary  lakes.  On  the  township  plats 
the  Big  Cobb  and  Little  Cobb  rivers  were  spelled  without  their  final 
letter,  though  probably  named  for  some  member  or  acquaintance  of  the 
surveying  party. 

Lake  Lura  is  said  to  have  been  so  designated  by  one  of  the  early 
settlers,  from  the  name  "Lura"  found  carved  on  a  tree  upon  its  shore, 
and  thence  it  was  given  to  a  neighboring  township  in  Faribault  county. 
It  had  two  Sioux  names,  Tewapa  (Water  Lily)  and  Ata'kinyan  or  Ksan- 
ksan  (crooked  or  irregular). 

Jackson  lake,  on  the  east  line  of  Shelby,  named  for  Norman  L, 
Jackson,  the  first  settler  of  that  township,  who  located  on  its  shore,  had 
the  Sioux  name  Sinkpe  (Muskrat).  Hughes  writes:  "The  southern  half 
of  its  bed,  being  shallow,  was  thickly  populated  by  these  animals,  whose 
rush-built  homes  literally  covered  that  portion  of  the  lake.  The  spot 
was  noted  among  both  the  Indians  and  pioneers  for  trapping  these  fur- 
bearing  rats." 

Wila  lake,  in  Lime  townsbip,  retains  its  Sio«x  name,  meaning  Island 
lake,  for  its  two  islands. 

The  aborigines  are  also  commemorated  by  two  Indian  lakes,  in  Le  Ray 
and  South  Bend  townships. 


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BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY  65 

Names  of  pioneer  settlers  are  borne  by  Ballantyne  lake,  in  Jamestown, 
for  James  Ballantyne,  a  school  teacher  and  homesteader;  Gilfillin  lake, 
in  Jamestown  and  Le  Ray,  for  Joseph  Gilfillin,  who  left  bis  home  near 
this  lake  to  join  the  Ninth  Minnesota  Ri-giment,  Company  E,  and  was 
killed  only  two  weeks  later  in  service  agai.ist  the  Sioux  near  New  Ulm, 
September  3,  1862;  Kilby  lake,  on  the  line  of  Judson  and  Butternut 
VaUey,  for  Benjamin  E.  Kilby;  Armstrong,  Dackins,  Lieberg,  Solberg, 
and  Strom  lakes,  in  Butternut  Valley,  for  John  Armstrong,  Edward 
Dackins,  Ole  P.  Lieberg,  Olens  Solberg,  and  Andrew  Strom,  the  largest 
of  these,  Solberg  lake,  and  also  Dackins  lake,  having  been  recently  drain- 
ed by  ditches;  Mills  lake,  in  Garden  City  township,  for  Titus  Mills,  whose 
farm  bordered  on  this  lake;  Morgan  creek,  in  Cambria,  for  Richard  Mor- 
gan, also  sometimes  otherwise  named  for  others  of  the  settlers  along  its 
course;  Rogers  lake,  in  sections  7  and  18,  Danville,  for  John  E.,  Robert 
H.,  and  Josiah  Rogers,  early  settlers  on  its  shore;  Albert  and  George 
lakes,  in  Jamestown ;  and  Lake  Alice,  in  Le  Ray,  and  Ida  lake  in  Shelby, 
each  probably  named  for  the  wife  or  daughter  of  a  pioneer. 

Other  names  are  of  obvious  significance,  as  Cottonwood  lake,  in  Medo; 
Duck  lake,  and  also  Long  and  Mud  lakes,  in  Jamestown ;  another  Mud 
lake,  in  Le  Ray;  Fox  lake,  in  South  Bend;  Perch  lake,  and  Perch  creek; 
Lily  and  Loon  lakes,  adjoining  Lake  Crystal,  the  first  very  shallow 
and  filled  with  lilies,  water  grasses,  and  rushes ;  Rice  lake  in  McPherson, 
named  for  its  wild  rice,  like  many  other  lakes  throughout  this  state ;  and 
Rush  lake,  in  Judson. 

The  Undine  Region. 

Nicollet  in  1841  gave  to  the  area  of  Blue  Earth  county,  with  parts  of 
other  counties  adjoining  it,  "the  name  of  Undine  Region  .  .  .  derived 
from  that  of  an  interesting  and  romantic  German  tale,  the  heroine  of 
which  belonged  to  the  extensive  race  of  water-spirits  living  in  the  brooks 
and  rivers  and  lakes,  whose  father  was  a  mighty  prince.  She  was  more- 
over the  niece  of  a  great  brook  (the  Mankato),  who  lived  in  the  midst  of 
forests,  and  was  beloved  by  all  the  many  great  streams  of  the  surround- 
ing country." 

The  author  of  "Undine,"  entitled  for  its  heroine,  published  in  1811,  was 
Frisdrich  Fouque,  who  was  born  at  Brandenburg,  Prussia,  in  1777,  and 
died  at  Berlin  in  1843.  Her  name  is  from  the  Latin  unda,  a  wave,  whence 
we  derive  several  common  words,  as  undulation  and  inundate,  and  speak 
of  undulating  prairies,  where  they  have  a  broadly  wavy  surface. 

On  Nicollet's  map  the  Undine  Region  extends  from  the  Redwood  river 
east  to  the  upper  part  of  Cannon  river,  and  from  the  Minnesota  river 
south  to  the  north  edge  of  Iowa. 

MiNNEOPA  State  Park. 
The  state  legislature  in  1905  provided  for  the  purchase  of  land  con- 
taining the  Minneopa  Falls  on  the  creek  of  this  name  in  South  Bend 


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66  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

township,  about  four  miles  west  of  Maskato,  for  public  use  as  a  state 
park.  Its  area  is  about  sixty  acres,  comprising  the  falls,  two  near  to- 
gether, of  60  feet  descent,  with  the  gorge  below.  The  railway  station, 
and  towcsite,  named  Minneopa,  close  to  the  falls,  had  been  platted  in 
September,  1870.  This  name  is  contracted  from  Sioux  words,  minne- 
hinhe-nonpa,  which  mean  "water  falling  twice"  or  "two  waterfalls,"  An 
early  name  of  this  stream  was  Lyons  creek,  for  a  pioneer.  It  flows  from 
Strom,  Lily,  and  Crystal  lakes. 

The  Winnebago  Reservation. 

Green  bay,  of  Lake  Michigan,  was  known  to  the  French  in  Radisson's 
time  as  the  Bay  of  the  Puants,  or  Winnebagoes,  an  outlying  tribe  of  the 
Siouan  stock,  mainly  surrounded  by  Algonquian  tribes.  Their  name,  mean- 
ing the  People  of  the  Stinking  Water,  that  is,  of  the  Sea,  or  of  muddy  and 
ill-smelling  lakes,  roiled  by  winds,  was  adopted  by  the  French  from  its 
yse  among  the  Algonquin s.  In  1832  the  Winnebagoes  ceded  their 
country  south  and  east  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers  to  the  United 
States,  and  afterward  many  of  the  tribe  were  removed  to  northeastern 
Iowa.  Thence,  in  1848,  they  were  removed  to  Long  Prairie,  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  what  is  now  Minnesota;  and  in  1855  they  were  again  removed, 
to  a  reservation  in  Blue  Earth  and  Waseca  counties  of  this  state.  In  1863, 
after  the  Sioux  outbreak,  they  were  removed  to  a  reservation  in  Dakota; 
and  in.  1866  to  a  more  suitable  reservation  in  Nebraska. 

The  reservation  that  was  provided  here  for  this  tribe  by  a  treaty  made 
at  Washington,  on  February  2?,  1855,  included  in  Blue  Earth  county  the 
townships  of  Rapidan,  Decoria,  McPherson,  Lyra,  Beauford,  and  Medo; 
and  it  continued  six  miles  east  in  Waseca  coimty,  there  includii^  Alton 
and  Freedom  townships.  By  a  later  treaty  at  Washington,  April  IS,  1859, 
the  Winnebagoes  relinquished  the  west  half  of  this  Reservation,  "to  he 
sold  by  the  United  States  in  trust  for  their  benefit;"  and  by  an  act  of 
Congress,  February  21,  1863,  the  east' half,  comprising  McPherson,  Medo, 
Alton,  and  Freedom,  was  directed  to  he  similarly  sold,  another  reserva- 
tion having  been  provided  in  Dakota. 

Glacial  Lake  Minnesota. 
In  the  basins  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Minnesota  rivers,  flowing  nifl-tli- 
ward  from  the  edge  of  Iowa  to  the  Mississippi  at  Fort  Snelliug,  a  glacial 
lake  was  held  by  the  barrier  of  the  departing  continental  glacier  during 
its  final  melting.  This  temporary  lake  was  mapped  and  named  in  my 
work  for  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  (Monograph  XXV,  "The 
Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,"  1896,  plates  III  and  XUI;  pages  2S4  and  264). 
To  the  later  and  reduced  condition  of  this  glacial  lake,  when  it  outflowed 
to  the  Cannon  river,  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell  in  1901  gave  the  name  of 
Lake  Undine  ("Glacial  Lakes  of  Minnesota,"  Bulletin  of  tlie  GeoL  Society 
of  America,  vol.  12,  pages  109-128,  with  a  map). 


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BROWN  COUNTY 

Established  by  legislative  act  February  20,  185S,  and  organized  Febru- 
ary 11,  1858,  this  county  was  named  in  honor  of  Joseph  Renshaw  Brown, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  pioneers  of  this  state.  He  was  born  in  Har- 
ford county,  Maryland,  January  5,  1805;  and  died  in  New  York  City,  No- 
vember 9,  18?0. 

In  his  boyhood  he  ran  away  from  an  apprenticeship  for  tlie  printing 
business  at  Lancaster,  Pa.;  enlisted  in  the  army  as  a  drummer  boy;  and  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  years  came  to  the  area  of  Minnesota,  with  the  troops 
who  built  Fort  St.  Anthony  (in  1825  renamed  Fort  Snelhng).  In  May, 
1822,  with  William  Joseph  Srelliiig,  son  of  the  commandant,  he  explored 
the  creek  and  lake  since  named  Minnehaha  and  Minnetonka. 

John  Fletcher  WilHams,  secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
wrote  in  1871   a^  f  11  f  B         '         "  d  I'f    w    k      d    f  h"    p 

al  qualities 

"On  lea  8      h  d       M    d 

Saint  Cro      an  g  di 

trade,  lum  H  d 

soon  made     m  th 

Northwest  k  H 

with  the  D  fl 

(being  alii  m  g  ed  d 

He  held,  a      ff  es  m  ffi 

he  filled  with  credit  and  ability.  ...  He  was  also  a  leading  member  of  tlie 
famous  'Stillwater  Convention'  of  citizens  held  in  August,  1848,  to  take 
steps  to  secure  a  Territorial  organization  for  what  is  now  Minnesota. 
He  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Territorial  Councils  of  1849  and  1851,  and 
Chief  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1853,  a  member  of  the 
Council  in  1854  and  '55  and  House  in  1857,  and  Territorial  Printer  in 
1853  and  '54.  He  was  also  a  member  from  Sibley  county  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  ('Democratic  Wing')  of  1857,  and  took  a  very  promi- 
nent part  in  the  formation  of  our  present  State  Constitutioa  ...  He 
shaped  much  of  the  legislation  of  our  early  territorial  <3ayk,  and  chieHy 
dictated  the  policy  of  his  party,  of  whose  conventions  he  was  always  a 
prominent  member. .  . , 

"But  it  is  as  a  journalist  and  publisher  I  desire  principally  to  speak  of 
him  here.  His  first  regular  entrance  into  the  printing  business  in  Minne- 
sota was  in  the  year  1852,  though  he  had  before  written  considerable  for 
the  press.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  James  M.  Goodhue,  which  occurred 
in  August  of  that  year.  Major  Brown  purchased  the  'Minnesota  Pioneer,' 
and  edited  and  published  it  under  his  own  name  for  nearly  two  years. 
In  the  spring  of  1854,  he  transferred  the  establishment  to  Col.  E.   S. 


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MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 


Goodrich.  During  the  period  of  his  connection  with  the  paper,  he  estab- 
lished a  reputation  as  one  of  the  most  sagacious,  successful  and  able 
political  editors  in  the  Territory,  and  as  a  sharp,  interesting  and  sensible 

"In  18S7  he  established  at  Henderson,  which  town  had  been  foumJed 
and  laid  out  by  him  a  short  time  before,  a  journal  called  the  'Henderson 
Democrat,'  which  soon  became  a  prominent  political  organ,  and  was 
continued  with  much  ability  and  success  until  1860  or  '61." 

Joseph  A.  Wheelock  wrote  in  the  St.  Paul  Press,  November  12.  18?0: 
"A  drummer  boy,  soldier,  Indian  trader,  lumberman,  pioneer,  speculator, 
fotmder  of  cities,  legislator,  politician,  editor,  inventor,  his  career— though 
it  hardly  commenced  till  half  his  life  had  been  wasted  in  the  obscure  soli- 
tudes of  this  far  Northwestern  wilderness — has  been  a  very  remarkable 
and  characteristic  one,  not  so  much  for  what  he  has  achieved,  as  for  the 
extraordinary  versatility  and  capacity  which  he  has  displayed  in  every 
new  situation." 

The  village  of  Brown's  Valley  in  Traverse  county,  founded  by  Jos- 
eph, R.  Brown  and  others,  was  the  place  of  his  trading  post  and  home 
during  his  last  four  years ;  and  an  adjoining  township  of  Big  Stone  coun- 
ty also  bears  this  name. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  has  been  gathered  from  "History  of  (he  Minnesota  Val- 
ley," 1882,  pages  698-762,  and  "History  of  Brown  Cotinty,"  L.  A.  Fritsche, 
M.  D.,  Editor,  two  volumes,  1916,  pages  519,  568;  from  Benedict  Juni, 
Richard  Pfefferle,  and  August  Schwerdtfeger,  each  of  New  Ulm,  and 
from  the  county  offices  of  the  register  of  deeds,  judge  of  probate,  and 
clerk  of  the  court,  during  a  visit  at  New  Ulm  in  July,  1916. 

Albin,  settled  in  1865,  was  organized  June  23,  1870.  "The  preliminary 
meeting  for  the  organization  of  the  town  was  held  at  the  house  of  S. 
Rima;  a  name  for  the  town  could  not  be  agreed  upon,  and  Albin  was 
suggested  by  Mrs.  Rima."     (History,  Minnesota  Valley,  p.  758.) 

Bashaw  township,  organized  in  April,  1874,  was  named  for  Joseph 
Baschor  (or  Pascher),  a  Bohemian,  who  was  the  first  settler,  coming  in 
the  spring  of  1869.  He  was  yet  living  in  1916,  in  the  village  of  Spring- 
field. The  name  was  changed  in  spelling,  to  give  a  more  easy  English 
pronunciation. 

BuHNSTOwN,  first  settled  in  1857,  was  named  for  J.  F.  Burns,  one  of  the 
early  settlers,  who  came  in  1858.  This  township  was  organized  October 
14,  1871.  "In  1877  the  village  of  Burns  was  surveyed  ...  on  the  line  of 
the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad. .  .  February  21, 1881,  it  was  incorporat- 
ed under  the  name  of  Springfield." 

CoBBEN,  a  railway  village,  was  originally  named  North  Branch,  from 
its  location  near  Sleepy  Eye  creek,  the  principal  north  branch  of  Cotton- 
wood river;  but  in  1886  it  was  changed  to  Cobden,  for  the  English  states- 


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BROWN  COUNTY  69 

man.  The  village  was  platted  February  16,  1901,  and  was  incorporated 
in  1905.  Richard  Cobden  was  bom  in  Sussex,  England,  June  3,  1804; 
died  in  London,  April  2,  1865.  He  entered  Parliament  in  1841 ;  visited 
the  United  States  in  1854;  was  especially  noted  as  an  advocate  of  free 
trade  and  of  peace.  During  our  civil  war  he  was  a  supporter  of  the 
cause  of  the  North. 

CoMFHEY,  the  railway  village  on  the  south  line  of  Bashaw  township, 
was  platted  in  1902,  taking  its  name  from  a  near  postoffice,  which  had 
been  established  in  1877.  That  had  been  so  named  "by  A.  W.  Pederson, 
the  first  postmaster,  from  the  plant,  comfrey  .  .  .  that  he  had  met  with  in 
his  reading."  (Stennett,  Origin  of  Place  Names  of  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  R^lways.) 

Cottonwood  township,  first  settled  in  18SS,  organised  October  24,  18S8, 
was  named  for  the  Cottonwood  river,  on  its  north  edge,  and  the  Little 
Cottonwood  river,  flowing  through  its  center,  their  names  being  transla- 
tions from  the  Sioux,  as  noted  more  fully  in  the  chapter  for  Cottonwood 
county. 

DoTsoN  railway  station,  in  Stately  township,  established  in  1899,  was 
named  for  Enoch  Dotson,  an  early  settler  of  the  neighboring  village  oi 
Sanborn  in  Redwood  county. 

Eden  township,  which  was  a  part  of  the  Sioux  reservation  till  I8J3, 
was  first  settled  by  white  immigrants  in  December,  1864,  and  was  organ- 
ized April  2,  1867.  Its  name  was  chosen  by  the  settlers  because  of  tiie 
beauty  of  its  scenery  and  fertility  of  the  soil.  Lone  Tree  postoffice  was 
established  in  Eden  township  in  1869,  being  named  for  the  neighboring 
lake,  which  had  received  this  name  from  a  large  lone  Cottonwood  tree, 
once  a  famous  landmark, 

EssiG,  the  railway  village  in  Milford,  "was  named  by  C.  C.  Wheeler, 
then  an  officer  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway,  to  honor  one 
of  the  Brothers  Essig,  who  erected  the  first  business  building  in  the 
place."  (Stennett,)  The  name  is  for  John  Essig,  a  farmer  here  since 
1882,  who  was  born  in  Will  county,  Illinois,  May  29,  I85I.  He  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1866,  with  his  parents,  who  settled  on  a  farm  in  Milford. 
His  father,  John  F.  Essig,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  lived  in  Milford 
till  1886,  and  later  in  Sprmgfield,  where  he  died  in  1896. 

Evan,  a  railway  village  Jn  section  8,  Prairieville,  was  first  platted  as 
Hanson  station  in  May,  1887,  by  Nels  Hanson,  and  became  an  incorporat- 
ed village  March  22,  1904.  A  postoffice  had  been  established  in  1886. 
named  Evan  by  the  first  postmaster,  Martin  Norseth,  for  his  wife,  Eva, 
and  its  name  was  transferred  to  this  village. 

Hanska,  the  railway  village  in  the  east  edge  of  Lake  Hanska  town- 
ship, bears  as  its  name,  like  the  township,  the  common  Sioux  word  mean- 
ing long  or  tall,  which  these  Indians  gave  to  the  remarkably  long  and 
narrow  lake  in  this  township  and  Albin.  The  village  was  platted  October 
9,  1899,  and  was  incorporated  in  May,  1901. 


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70  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Home,  the  largest  township  of  this  county,  settled  in  1857,  organized 
Jvioe  30,  1866,  was  so  named  in  accordance  with  the  petition  of  its  set- 
tlers. 

Iberia,  a  small  hamlet  near  the  center  of  Stark  township,  bears  the 
ancient  name  of  the  Spanish  and  Portugese  peninsula.  The  postoHice  of 
this  name  was  established  February  1,  1870,  and  was  finally  discontinued 
February  24,  1893. 

Lake  Hanska  township,  first  settled  in  1857,  organized  June  21,  1870, 
was  named  for  its  long  lake,  as  before  noted  for  its  village  of  Hanska. 

Leavenworth  township,  in  which  a  village  of  this  name  was  platted  in 
October,  1857,  was  organized  April  16,  1859.  It  was  probably  named  in 
honor  of  Henry  Leavenworth,  commander  of  the  troops  who  came  in 
1819  to  found  the  fort  at  first  called  Fort  St.  Anthony,  renamed  as  Fort 
Snelling  in  1825. 

Linden  township,  settled  in  1855,  organized  in  1859,  was  named  for  its 
groves  of  the  American  linden,  usually  called  basswood.  The  largest 
groves  here  bordered  Lake  Linden,  which  had  been  earlier  so  named. 

MiLFOED  township,  first  settled  in  1853,  set  apart  by  the  county  board 
for  organization  on  June  28,  1858,  was  named  from  a  sawmill  built  in 
1854-55  on  a  small  creek,  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  river,  where  it  was 
crossed  by  a  ford.    This  was  the  first  sawmill  in  the  upper  Minnesota 

Mulligan  township,  settled  in  1865,  organized  April  26,  1-871,  was 
named  for  an  early  pioneer,  probably  from  Ireland. 

New  Ulm,  the  county  seat,  founded  in  1854-55  by  German  colonists, 
coming  from  Chicago  and  Cincinnati,  was  named  for  Ufm  in  Germany, 
near  the  village  of  Erbach,  which  was,  according  to  the  late  Hon.  William 
Pfaender,  the  place  of  emigration  of  twenty  in  thirty-two  of  the  first 
company  of  pioneer  settlers,  who  came  in  the  autumn  of  1854.  It  was 
incorporated  as  a  town  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  March  6,  1857;  as  a 
borough,  February  19,  1870;  and  as  a  city,  February  24,  1876.  It  received 
its  present  charter  on  March  1,  1887.  Ulm  is  an  important  city  of  Wur- 
temberg,  in  southwestern  Germany,  situated  on  the  northwest  side  of  the 
Danube  at  the  head  of  navigation.  Its  population  in  1900  was  nearly 
43,000.  On  the  opposite  Bavarian  side  of  the  Danube  is  Neu  Ulm,  which 
in  1900  had  a  population  of  9,215. 

North  Star  township,  first  settled  in  1858,  set  apart  for  organization 
on  January  9,  1873,  received  its  name  in  allusion  to  the  French  motto, 
"L'Etoile  du  Nord,"  on  our  state  seal,  whence  Minnesota  is  often  called 
the  North  Star  State. 

Prairieville  township,  whose  first  settlers  came  in  1866,  was  organ- 
ized in  March,  1870,  taking  this  name  because  it  consists  almost  wholly 
of  prairie  land. 

Searles,  a  railway  village  in  Cottonwood  township,  was  platted  Octo- 
ber 10,  1899,  being  named  by  officials  of  the  Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis 
Railway  Company. 


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BROWN  COUNTY  71 

SiCEL  township,  settled  in  1856,  organized  April  28,  1862,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Franz  Sigel,  a  general  in  the  Civil  War.  He  was  born  at  Sins- 
heim,  Baden,  Germany,  November  18,  1824;  died  in  New  York  City,  Aug- 
ust 21,  1902.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1852;  settled  in  St.  Louis, 
1858,  as  a  teacher  in  a  German  institute ;  organized  a  regiment  of  U.  S. 
volunteers,  1861,  of  which  he  became  colonel ;  won  the  battle  of  Carthage, 
Mo.,  July  S,  1861;  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  general,  March, 
1862,  and  took  command  of  a  wing  of  the  army  of  Virginia;  was  appoint- 
ed to  the  command  of  the  army  of  West  Virginia  in  February,  1864;  was 
U.  S.  pension  agent  in  New  York  City,  1885-89.  About  the  year  1873  Gen- 
eral Sigel  visited  New  Ulm  and  this  township. 

Sleepy  Eye,  the  city  and  railway  junction  in  Home  township,  platted 
September  18,  1872,  incorporated  as  a  village  February  14,  1878,  and  as  a 
city  in  1903,  was  named,  like  the  adjoining  lake,  for  a  chief  of  the  Lower 
Sisseton  Sioux.  His  favorite  home  and  village  during  some  parts  of  many 
years  were  beside  this  lake.  He  was  born  near  the  site  of  Mankato ;  be- 
came a  chief  between  1822  and  1825;  signed  the  treaties  of  Prairie  du 
Cbien,  1825  and  1830,  of  SL  Peter's  in  1836,  and  Traverse  des  Sioux,  1851. 
Doane  Robinson  wrote:  "Sleepy  Eyes  died  in  Roberts  county,  South  Da- 
kota, but  many  years  after  his  death  his  remains  were  disinterred  and  re- 
moved to  Sleepy  Eye,  Minn.,  where  they  were  buried  under  a  monument 
erected  by  the  citizens."  (Hodge,  Handbook  of  American  Indians,  Part 
H,  1910.)  The  monument,  dose  to  the  railway  station,  bears  this  in- 
scription, beneath  the  portrait  of  the  chief  in  bas  relief  sculpture:  "Ish- 
tak-ha-ba.  Sleepy  Eye,  Always  a  Friend  of  the  Whites.     Died  1860." 

An  interesting  biographic  sketch  of  "Sleepy  Eyes,  or  Ish-ta-hba,  which 
is  very  literally  translated,"  by  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs,  in  the  Minnesota 
Free  Press,  St  Peter,  Jan.  27,  1858,  is  reprinted  in  the  Minnesota  History 
Bulletin,  vol.  2,  no.  8,  pp.  484-495,  Nov.,  1918. 

Springfield,  the  railway  village  in  Burnstown,  platted  in  1877,  was 
then  named  Burns,  but  at  its  incorporation,  February  21,  1881,  received 
its  present  name.  This  is  said  by  Stenneft  to  be  derived  from  the  city  of 
Springfield,  Mass. ;  but  Juni  refers  its  origin  to  a  very  large  spring  there, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Cottonwood  river  and  high  above  it. 

Staek  township,  settled  in  1858,  organized  April  7,  1868,  was  named 
for  August  Starck,  a  German  pioneer  farmer  there. 

Sr.^TELY,  settled  in  1873,  was  the  last  township  organized  in  this  county, 
April  7,  1879.  The  origin  of  its  name  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  as  an 
English  word,  of  frequent  use,  it  means  "having  a  grand  and  impressive 
appearance,  lofty,  dignified."  The  west  part  of  the  south  line  of  Stately 
crosses  the  highest  land  of  this  county,  commanding  a  far  prospect  north- 
ward and  eastward. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

Cottonwood  and  Little  Cottonwood  rivers  are  noticed  in  connection  with 
Cottonwood  township,  and  most  fully  in  the  chapter  on  the  county  of 


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72  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

that  name.  Lone  Tree  lake  is  mentioned  under  Eden  township,  and  Lakes 
Hanska  and  Linden  with  the  townships  so  named.  Sleepy  Eye  lake  attd. 
creek  received  their  names,  like  the  city,  from  the  Sioux  chief. 

Only  a  few  other  names  of  streams  remain  to  be  noticed.  Big  Sprii^ 
creek,  also  called  Spring  Branch  creek,  in  Eden  and  Home  townships, 
takes  its  name  from  its  large  springs ;  Mine  creek,  in  North  Star  town- 
ship, refers  doubtless  to  prospecting  or  mining  there ;  and  Mound  creek 
in  Stately  may  have  been  named,  as  also  this  township,  in  allusion  to  the 
highland  on  its  upper  course. 

The  following  lakes  bear  names  of  early  pioneers,  whose  homes  were 
usually  beside  them  or  in  their  vicinity :  George  lake,  named  for  Captain 
Sylvester  A,  George,  and  Rose  lake,  for  Fred  Rose,  in  Home  township, 
the  former  having  been  earlier  called  Cross  lake  in  allusion  to  its  four 
bays  having  somewhat  the  outline  of  a  cross;  Kruger  lake,  in  Prairieville, 
for  Louis  Kruger,  a  German  farmer ;  Lake  Hummel,  also  named  Qear 
lake,  in  Sigel;  Lake  Emerson,  now  drained,  on  the  south  line  of  Linden; 
Broome  and  Omsrud  lakes,  in  Lake  Hanska  township ;  and  Lake  Alter- 
matt,  in  Leavenworth,  for  John  B.  Altermatt,  a  Swiss  farmer. 

Lake  Juni,  in  section  26,  Sigel,  is  named  in  honor  of  Benedict  Juni, 
of  New  Ulm.  He  was  born  in  Switzerland,  January  12,  1852;  and  came 
to  the  United  States  when  five  years  old  with  his  parents,  who  settled  on 
a  farm  in  Milford.  In  1862  he  was  a  captive  of  the  Sioux,  from  August 
18  to  the  surrender  of  the  prisoners  at  Camp  Release,  as  narrated  by  him 
in  the  "History  of  Brown  County"  (vol.  I,  pages  111-122).  During  more 
than  thirty  years  he  was  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  this  county. 

School  lake,  also  in  Sigel.  received  this  name  from  its  lying  mainly  in 
the  school  section  16. 

Dane  lake,  in  Linden,  was  named  for  its  several  Dane  settlers  in  a 
a  mainly  Norwegian  township. 

Bachelor  lake,  in  Stark,  was  named  for  a  lone  homesteader  there,  un- 
married ;  and  Rice  lake,  mostly  in  section  29  of  the  same  township,  for  its 
wild  rice,  a  name  that  formerly  was  also  applied  to  the  present  Lake  Al- 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Boy's  lake,  in  Leavenworth,  was  not  learned. 

Reed  lake,  in  section  6,  Bashaw,  was  named  for  its  abundant  growth 
of  reeds ;  and  Wood  lake,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  Mulligan  and  lying 
mainly  in  Watonwan  county,  for  its  adjoining  groves,  the  source  of  fire- 
wood used  by  the  early  settlers. 


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CARLTON  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  May  23,  1857,  with  a  further  legislative  act 
of  February  18,  1870,  and  organized  September  26,  1870,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Reuben  B.  Carlton,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Fond  du  Lac. 
at  the  head  of  lake  navigation  on  the  St.  Louis  river,  near  the  line  be- 
tween St.  Louis  and  Carlton  counties.  He  was  born  in  Onondaga  county, 
New  York,  March  4,  1812;  came  to  Fond  du  Lac  in  !847,  as  a  farmer  and 
blacksmith  for  the  Ojibway  Indians;  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
townsite  of  Fond  du  Lac,  being  a  trustee  under  the  act  of  its  incorpor- 
ation in  1857;  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  state  senate,  1858.  He  owned 
about  eighty  acres  adjoining  that  village  and  the  river,  on  which  he  re- 
sided until  his  death,  December  6,  1863. 

The  village  of  Carlton,  the  county  seat  of  this  county  since  1886,  was 
also  named  for  him ;  and  he  is  further  commemorated  by  Carlton's  Peak, 
near  Tofte  in  Cook  county,  the  most  prominent  point  on  the  north  shore 
of  Lake  Superior  in  Minnesota,  forming  the  western  end  of  the  Saw- 
teeth Range. 

Fifty  years  after  Carkon's  death,  James  Bardon  of  Superior,  Wis., 
wrote  the  following  personal  remembrance  and  estimate  of  him  to  Henry 
Oldenburg  of  Carlton,  dated  September  10,  1913. 

"  'Colonel'  Carlton,  as  he  was  called,  was  a  man  of  large  frame,  fully 
six  feet  in  height,  a  strong  personality,  of  good  looks  and  pleasing  man- 
ners, a  man  of  much  intelligence.  He  became  associated  with  the  bright 
and  enterprising  men  who  laid  out  and  established  Superior,  Duluth,  and 
other  places  about  the  head  of  Lake  Superior.  An  avenue  here  in  Supe- 
rior was  named  after  him.  .  .  .  Colonel  Carlton  was  more  prominently 
identified  with  the  westerly  part  of  St.  Louis  county,  now  Carlton  county, 
in  the  early  days,  than  any  other  man;  and  when  the  new  county  was 
projected  it  is  likely  that  all  men  agreed  that  Carlton  was  the  appropriate 
name  for  it,  ...  a  really  noble  character." 

Townships  and  Villages. 

For  the  origins  and  significance  of  local  names  in  this  county,  infor- 
mation was  gathered  from  F.  A.  Watkins,  judge  of  probate,  visited  at 
Carlton  in  September,  1909,  and  again  in  August,  1916;  and  also  from 
Hon.  Spencer  J.  Searls,  in  the  second  of  these  visits. 

Atkinson  township  was  named  for  John  Atkinson,  an  early  settler 
there,  who  during  many  years  was  employed  as  a  land  examiner  for  the 
St.  Paul  and  Duluth  railroad  company. 

AuTOMBA  was  named  after  the  railway  station  of  the  Soo  line  in 
this  township,  but  the  origin  of  this  name  remains  to  be  ascertained. 


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74  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Baknum  township  received  its  name  in  honor  of  George  G.  Banium, 
now  a  resident  of  Duluth,  who  was  paymaster  of  the  Lake  Superior  and 
Mississippi  railroad  (later  named  the  St  Paul  and  Doluth),  when  it  was 
being  built. 

Besemann  township  was  named  for  a  former  German  landowner  titere, 
Ernst  Besemann,  who  removed  to  Chaska. 

Black  Hoof  was  named  for  the  creek  which  flows  circuitously  through 
this  township  to  the  Nemadji  river.  It  is  translated  from  the  Ojihway 
name  of  the  creek. 

GiBLTON  village,  the  county  seat,  took  its  name,  like  the  county,  in 
honor  of  Reuben  B.  Carlton.  During  about  fifteen  years  from  the  build- 
ing of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway,  in  1870,  this  place  was  called  Northern 
Pacific  Junction,  being  at  the  junction  of  that  transcontinental  line  with 
the  older  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  line. 

Cloquet  (retaining  the  French  pronunciation  of  its  last  syllable,  as 
in  bouquet  and  sobriquet),  incorporated  as  a  city,  was  named  for  the 
Qoquet  river,  from  which,  and  from  other  tributaries  of  the  Sl  IjDuis 
river,  came  the  logs  of  its  lumber  manufacturing.  The  map  of  Long's 
expedition,  in  1823,  shows  that  stream  as  Rapid  river,  and  it  is  unnamed 
on  the  map  by  Thompson  in  1826  for  the  proposed  routes  of  the  interna- 
tional boundary;  but  on  Nicollet's  map,  published  in  1843,  it  has  the  present 
title,  Qoquet  river.  It  is  not  used  outside  of  Minnesota  as  a  geographic 
name,  and  here  was  probably  derived  from  some  fur  trader.  It  is  ap- 
plied also  to  an  island  of  the  Mississippi  in  section  10,  Dayton  township, 
Hennepin  county. 

CoBOHA,  the  Latin  word  meaning  a  crown,  was  first  given  to  a  station 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway,  perhaps  because  it  is  near  the  highest 
land  crossed  between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Mississippi ;  and  thence  it 
was  given  to  the  township,  in  accordance  with  the  petition  of  the  settlers. 

Cromwell,  a  railway  village  in  the  south  edge  of  Red  Clover  township, 
was  organized  January  17,  1891,  recdving  its  name  from  the  Northern 
Pacific  railway  company. 

Eagle  township  was  named  for  its  Eagle  lake.  Our  common  species 
is  the  bald  eagle,  so  called  for  his  white  head,  found  throughout  Minne- 
sota, nesting  in  large  trees,  preferably  on  lake  shores  or  islands. 

HoLYOKE  township,  organized  in  1903,  received  its  name  from  the 
earlier  railway  station,  where  it  was  given  by  the  Great  Northern  rail- 
way company. 

IvERSON  station  was  named  by  the  Northern  Pacific  railway  company 
for  Ole  Iverson,  a  pioneer  settler  there. 

Kalevala  township  has  many  Finnish  settlers,  by  whom  it  was  given 
this  name  of  the  national  epic  poem  of  Finland,  meaning  "the  abode  or 
land  of  heroes."  English  translations  of  it  have  been  published  in  1888 
and  in  1907.  "The  elements  of  the  poem  are  ancient  popular  songs.  .  .  . 
The  poem  owes  its  present  cohereid  form  to  Eiias  Lonnrot  (1802-1884), 


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CARLTON  COUNTY  75 

who  during  years  of  assiduous  labor  collected  the  material  in  Finland  prop- 
er, but  principally  in  Russian  Karelia  eastward  to  the  White  Sea.  .  .  .  The 
Kalevala  is  written  in  eight-syllabled  trochaic  verse,  with  alliteration,  but 
without  rhne.  The  whole  is  divided  into  fifty  cantos  or  runes.  Its  sub- 
ject matter  is  mythical,  with  a  few  Christian  elements.  Its  central  hero 
is  Wainamoinen,  the  god  of  poetry  and  music  It  is  the  prototype, 
in  form  and  contents,  of  Longfellow's  'Hiawatha.'"  (Csntury  Cyclopedia 
of  Names.) 

Kettle  River,  the  railway  village  of  Silver  township,  is  named  for  the 
river,  a  translation  of  its  Ojibway  name,  Akiko  sibi. 

Krifb  Falls  township  is  named  for  the  falls  of  the  St.  Louis  river, 
falling  16  feet,  in  the  west  part  of  section  13,  close  east  of  CIoqueL  On 
the  canoe  route  used  by  fur  traders  during  a  hundred  years,  these  falls 
were  passed  by  a  portage  about  a  mile  long  on  the  south  side  of  the  riv- 
er, of  which  Prof.  N,  H.  Wincheil  wrote :  "It  is  well  named  Knife 
portage,  because  where  it  starts,  and  for  some  distance,  the  slates  are 
thin,  perpendicular,  and  sharp  like  knives." 

Lake  View  township,  having  Tamarack  lake,  nearly  two  mjles  long, 
adjoining  tamarack  woods,  and  several  other  lakes  of  small  size,  received 
this  name  by  vote  of  the  settlers. 

MA.HT0WA  township  has  a  name  formed  from  the  Sioux  mahto  and 
the  last  syllable  of  the  Ojibway  makwa,  each  meaning  a  bear. 

Moose  Lake  township  has  reference  to  its  Moose  lake  and  Moose 
Head  lake,  each  probably  translated  from  their  original  Ojibway  names. 

Nemadji,  the  Soo  railway  station  in  Barnum  township,  received  this 
Ojibway  name  from  the  Nemadji  river,  meaning  Left  Hand  river.  The 
name  refers  to  its  being  next  on  the  left  hand  when  one  passes  from 
Lake  Superior  into  the  St.  Louis  river. 

Perch  Lake  township  is  named  for  its  Perch  lake,  which  is  somewhat 
larger  than  its  adjacent  Big  lake,  each  being  very  probably  translations  of 
the  aboriginal  names. 

Progress  has  a  euphonious  and  auspicious  name,  selected  by  the  peti- 
tioners for  the  township  organization. 

Reb  Clover  township  was  named  similarly  with  the  last  noted.  This 
beautiful  and  highly  valued  species  of  clover  is  of  Old  World  origin,  but 
it  is  nearly  everywhere  cultivated  with  grasses  in  the  sowing  of  lands  for 
hay. 

Sawyer,  a  railway  station  in  Atkinson  township,  was  named  by  the 
officers  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company, 

ScANLON,  the  lumber  manufacturing  vills^e  between  Cloquet  and  Carl- 
ton, was  named  for  M.  Joseph  Scanlon,  president  of  the  B rooks -ScanI on 
Company,  Minneapolis,  He  was  born  in  Lyndon,  Wis,,  August  24,  1861 ; 
settled  in  Minneapolis  in  1889,  and  has  engaged  in  many  large  enterprises 
of  logging,  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  and  building  and  operating  rail- 
roads to  supply  logs.    In  addition  to  his  company's  very  large  lumber  in- 


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76  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

tereats  at  this  village,  he  has  conducted  similar  lumbering  and  sawmills 
at  Cass  Lake,  and  also  in  Oregon  and  in  Louisiana  and  Florida. 

Silver  township  has  a  euphonious  name  chosen  by  its  settlers,  for  the 
Silver  creek  there  tributary  to  Kettle  river. 

Skelton  township  was  named  for  two  brothers,  Joha  and  Harry  E. 
Skelton,  who  lived  in  the  village  of  Barnum.  The  former  was  the  county 
surveyor  in  1897-1901,  and  the  latter  was  judge  of  probate  for  the  county, 
1901-04,  dying  in  office. 

Split  Rock  township  was  named  for  the  small  river  flowing  through 
it,  on  which  ledges  of  slates  and  schists  have  been  deeply  channeled  near 
its  mouth,  the  rocks  of  the  opposite  banks  appearing  therefore  as  it  split 

Thomson  township  received  its  name  from  the  station  and  village 
of  the  St.  Paul  and  Duluth  and  Northern  Pacific  railroads,  built  in 
1870.  This  village  was  the  county  seat  from  that  date  until  1886.  The 
name  was  given  by  officers  of  4;he  former  line,  in  honor  of  David  Thomp- 
son, the  Canadian  explorer  and  geographer;  but  it  has  been  generally 
spelled  as  if  for  James  Thomson  (1700-1748),  the  Scottish  poet,  author 
of  "The  Seasons." 

David  Thompson  was  born  in  Westminster  (now  a  part  of  London), 
England,  April  30,  1770;  and  died  in  Longueuil,  near  Montreal,  February 
10,  1857.  He  was  in  the  service  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  1784-97, 
and  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company  the  next  eighteen  years.  In  the 
spring  of  1798  he  traveled  from  the  mouth  of  the  Assiniboine  river,  the 
site  of  the  city  of  Winnipeg,  to  Pembina ;  thence  to  the  trading  house 
of  the  Northwest  Company  on  the  site  of  Red  Lake  Falls ;  thence  by  the 
Clearwater  and  Red  Lake  rivers  to  Red  lake;  thence  by  Turtle  lake  and 
river  to  Red  Cedar  lake  (now  Cass  lake)  ;  thence  down  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Northwest  trading  post  on  Sandy  lake ;  thence  by  the  Savanna 
rivers  and  portage  to  the  St.  Louis  river,  and  down  this  river,  past  the 
site  of  Thomson,  to  the  trading  post  at  Fond  du  Lac;  and  thence  along 
the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Thompson's 
account  of  this  journey  through  northern  Minnesota,  with  descriptions 
of  the  rivers  and  lakes  and  the  country  traversed,  fomfs  Chapters  XVI  to 
XIX  in  his  "Narrative  of  Explorations  in  Western  America,  1784-1812," 
edited  by  J.  B.  Tyrrell,  published  in  1916  as  Volume  XII  (pages  xcyiii, 
582,  with  maps  and  sketches),  Publications  of  the  Champlain  Society. 
This  work  is  reviewed,  with  a  biographic  sketch  of  Thompson,  in  the 
"Minnesota  History  Bulletin"  (vol.  I,  pages  522-7,  November,  1916). 

Twin  Lakes  township  was  named  for  its  two  smalj  lakes  in  section 
36,  on  the  first  road  laid  out  from  St.  Paul,  through  Chisago  and  Pine 
counties,  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior.  A  map  of  Minnesota  in  1856, 
by  Silas  Chapman,  shows  this  road  with  a  small  settlement  named  Twin 
Lakes,  which  was  the  only  locality  indicated  as  having  inhabitants  in  Carl- 
ton county.  It  was  nominally  the  county  seat  until  Thomson  was  so 
designated  by  the  legislative  act  of  February  18,  1870. 


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CARLTON  COUNTY  77 

Wrenshau-  township  was  named  from  the  railway  station  and  village, 
which  received  this  name  from  the  Northern  Pacific  company.  It  is  for  C. 
C.  Wrenshall,  who  during  several  years  was  in  charge  of  maintenance  and 
repairs  of  bridges  for  this  railway, 

WflrGHT,  a  railway  village  in  Lake  View  township,  recalls  the  work 
of  George  Bur  dick  Wright,  who  during  many  y^ars  was  engaged  in 
land  examinations  and  locating  new  settlers  in  northern  and  western 
Minnesota.  He  was  born  in  Williston,  Vt.,  June  21,  1835;  and  died  at 
Fergus  Falls,  Minn.,  April  29,  1882.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856;  and 
first  settled  in  Minneapolis ;  was  the  principal  founder  of  Fergus  Falls, 
in  1871 ;  and  secured  the  building  of  a  branch  o£  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  in  1881-2  from  Wadena  to  Fergus  Falls  and  Breckenridge. 

The  name  also  had  a  second  and  equal  reason  for  being  chosen,  to 
commemorate  Charles  Barstow  Wright  of  Philadelphia,  Pa,,  who  was  a 
director  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company  in  1870-74,  and  was  its 
president  from  1875  for  four  years,  during  a  period  of  restoration  of 
business  credit  and  prosperity  after  the  great  financial  panic  and  de- 
pression of  1873.  For  Minnesota,  in  1877-78  he  directed  the  construction 
of  the  Western  railroad,  a  line  between  St.  Paul  and  Brainerd,  which 
became  a  part  of  the  Northern  Pacific  system. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 
The  preceding  list  has  sufiicieiitly  referred  to  Black  Hoof  creek,  Qo- 
quet  river   (north  of  Carlton  county).  Eagle  lake,  Knife  falls  and  port- 
age of  the  St.  Louis  river.  Tamarack  lake.  Moose  and  Moose  Head  lakes, 
Nemadji  river,  Perch  lake  and  Big  lake,  Split  Rock  river,  and  the  Twin 

West  and  East  Net  rivers  (or  creeks)  in  Holyoke  are  probably  trans- 
lated from  their  Ojibway  names,  referring  to  nets  for  catching  fish. 

Skunk,  Deer,  Mud,  and  Clear  creeks,  flowing  into  Nemadji  river,  need 
no  explanations ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Otter  creek,  at  Carlton, 
probably  an  Ojibway  name  translated,  and  of  Midway  and  Hay  creeks 
in  Thomson,  the   tornier  being  midway  between  Thomson  and  Fond  du 

Stony  brook,  the  outlet  of  Perch  lake,  Tamarack  river,  flowing  west 
from  Tamarack  lake.  Moose  Horn  and  Dead  Moose  rivers  and  Otter 
brook  (now  called  Silver  creek),  each  flowing  from  the  west  into  the 
Kettle  river,  and  Moose  river,  its  tributary  from  the  east,  are  likewise 
of  obvious  or  simple  derivations,  some  or  all  of  them  being  translations  of 
the  Ojibway  names. 

Portage  river,  an  eastern  branch  of  Moose  river,  refers  to  the  portage 
from  it  to  the  head  stream  of  Nemadji  river,  being  an  ancient  aboriginal 
and  French  name. 

Gillespie  brook,  in  Silver  township,  bears  probably  the  name  of  an 
early  lumberman  or  trapper. 


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78'  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

This  county  has  two  Silver  creeks,  one  flowing  to  Kettle  river  in  Sil- 
ver township,  the  other  a  smaller  stream  heading  about  a  mile  south  of 
Carlton  and  flowing  three  miles  east  to  the  St.  Louis  river. 

In  Ahkeek  lake,  Cori^a,  lately  called  Kettle  lake,  we  have  the  Ojib- 
way  name  and  its  English  translation,  this  lake  being  near  the  most  north- 
ern sources  of  Kettle  river. 

Other  names  of  lakes  in  this  county,  some  being  translations,  and  near- 
ly all  being  of  evident  origin  or  meaning,  include  Dead  Fish  lake,  in  sec- 
tion 12,  Progress;  White  Fish  lake  (lately  called  Big  lake),  one  to  two 
miles  south  of  Barnum  village;  Bear  lake,  close  east  of  Barnum,  and  an- 
other Bear  lake  in  section  4,  Black  Hoof ;  Coffee,  Echo,  and  Sand  lakes, 
in  the  south  part  of  Moose  Lake  township;  Chub  and  Hay  lakes,  in  Twin 
Lakes  township;  Rocky  lake  (now  called  Park  lake),  in  Atkinson;  and 
Island  lake,  on  the  Northern  Pacilic  railway,  whence  the  early  name  of 
its  station  there  was  Island  Lake,  later  changed  to  Cromwell 

Cole  lake,  in  sections  7  and  8,  Lake  View,  was  named  for  James  Cole, 
a  civil  war  veteran,  who  was  a  homesteader  there ;  and  Woodbury  lake, 
section  31,  Red  Clover,  similarly  commemorates  an  early  settler. 

Hanging  Horn  lake,  crossed  by  the  west  line  of  section  7,  Barnum, 
translates  its  Ojibway  name,  as  also  probably  Horn  lake  in  section  3, 
Atkinson. 

Moran  lake,  in  section  8,  Atkinson,  was  named  for  Henry  P.  Moran, 
an  early  Irish  homesteader  and  trapper. 

Venoah  lake  (formerly  called  Mink  lake),  three  miles  soulh  of  Carl- 
ton, received  its  present  name  in  compliment  to  the  daughters,  Winona 
and  Marie,  of  Judge  F.  A.  Watkins,  who  kindly  supplied  much  informa- 
tion for  this  chapter.  The  lake  name  was  coined  from  their  pet  names 
as  children  about  twenty  years  ^o. 

Jay  Cooke  State  Park. 

In  the  years  1915  and  1916,  Minnesota  received  by  donation  from  the 
esitate  of  Jay  Cooke  more  than  2,000  acres  of  land,  bordering  each  side  of 
the  St.  Louis  river  through  its  winding  course  of  about  ten  miies,  from  the 
Northern  Pacific  railway  at  Carlton  and  Thomson,  along  it  rapids  and 
falls  descending  39S  feet  in  crossing  Range  16,  to  the  east  line  of  the 
county  and  state.  With  additional  adjoining  lands  of  equal  or  greater 
area,  expected  to  be  obtained  by  further  donations  and  by  purchases,  a 
large  state  park  is  planned,  to  preserve  these  Dalles  of  the  St.  Louis  for 
the  enjoyment  and  recreation  of  the  people. 

Jay  Cooke  was  born  in  Sandusky,  Ohio,  August  10,  1821 ;  and  died  at 
Ogontz,  near  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  February  16,  1905.  In  1861  he 
founded  in  Philadelphia  the  banking  house  of  Jay  Cooke  and  Company, 
and  during  the  next  four  years  of  the  civil  war  he  was  the  principal  finan- 
cial agent  of  the  Federal  government,  negotiating  loans  for  the  war  ex- 
penses to  a  value  of  about  $2,000,000,000.  In  1873  his  house  failed,  on 
account  of  too  heavy  investments  in  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  bonds. 


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CARLTON  COUNTY  79 

"Before  the  financial  crash  of  1873,  Mr.  Cooke  regarded  himself  as  one 
of  the  richest  men  of  the  country.  He  built  in  the  beautiful  suburbs  of 
Philadelphia  a  palace  which,  for  size  and  costliness,  had  scarcely  an  equal 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  this  palace,  called  'Ogontz,'  he  dispensed 
a  lavish  hospitality.  He  had  also  a  summer  residence  named  'Gibraltar,' 
on  a  rocky  cape  at  the  entrance  of  Sandusky  Bay  on  Lake  Erie.  .  .  ,  After 
the  crash  came  he  lived  for  a  long  time  in  retirement  in  a  little  cottage,  in 
the  country,  near  Philadelphia, — to  all  appearances  a  broken  man.  But 
after  getting  through  the  bankruptcy  courts,  he  reappeared  in  business 
circles  in  Philadelphia,  occupied  his  old  office  on  South  Third  street,  and 
began  to  build  up  a  second  fortune.  .  .  .  His  career  offers  the  rare  instance 
of  a  man  losing  one  fortune  and  making  another  when  past  the  meridian 
of  life."    (Smalley,  "History  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,"  1883.) 

Sixteen  years  later  than  the  writing  here  cited,  his  wealth  "was  esti- 
mated to  be  as  large  as  at  any  period  of  his  life."  He  was  a  generous 
patron  of  education,  of  churches,  and  of  charities;  and  in  his  later  years 
spent  much  of  his  time  in  the  recreations  of  hunting  and  fishing.  An  ex- 
cellent biography,  "Jay  Cooke,  Financier  of  the  Civil  War,"  by  Ellis  Pax- 
son  Oberholtier,  was  published  in  1907  (two  vols.,  pages  658,  590,  with 
portraits  and  many  other  illustrations). 

Fond  du  Lac  Eeservatiok. 
The  reservation  for  the  Fond  du  Lac  bands  of  the  Ojibway  people, 
established  by  a  treaty  at  La  Pointe,  WisconsiI^,  September  30,  1854,  com- 
prises the  present  Knife  Falls  and  Perch  Lake  townships,  with  the  edges 
of  the  adjoining  townships  in  this  county,  and  thence  reaches  north  to 
the  St.  Louis  river,  thus  including  a  tract  in  St.  Louis  county  equivalent 
to  about  two  townships.  The  name  Fond  du  Lac,  meaning  the  farther  end 
or  liead  of  the  lake,  was  applied  by  the  early  French  traders  and  voyageurs 
to  their  trading  post  on  the  north  side  of  the  St.  Louis  river,  where  its 
strong  current  is  slackened  by  coming  nearly  to  the  level  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, which,  in  its  extension  of  St.  Louis  bay,  is  about  two  miles  away.  The 
same  name  was  given  also  to  this  river,  called  "R,  du  Fond  du  Lac"  'on 
Franquelin's  map,  1688,  renamed  St,  Louis  by  Vaugondy's  map  in  17SS. 

Glacial  Lakes  St.  Louis,  Nemadji,  and  Duluth. 
Prof.  N.  H.  WincheH,  in  the  fourth  volume  (published  in  1899)  of  the 
Final  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota,  gave  the  names 
St  Louis  and  Nemadji  to  two  early  and  relatively  small  glacial  lakes  in 
Carlton  county,  which  successively  outflowed  to  the  Moose  and  Keitle 
rivers  by  channels  in  Mahtowa  and  Barnum  townships,  respectively  about 
1125  and  1070  feet  above  the  sea.  They  were  followed  by  the  slightly 
lower  Glacial  Lake  Duluth,  named  by  Frank  B.  Taylor  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  which  in  its  maximum  stage  occupied  a  large 
area  of  the  Lake  Superior  basin,  with  outlet  at  tlie  head  of  the  Brule 
river  in  Douglas  county,  Wisconsin,  to  the  Upper  St.  Croix  lake  and  river. 


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CARVER  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  February  20,  I85S,  was  named  for  Captain 
Jonathan  Carver,  explorer  and  author,  who  was  born  in  Stillwater,  now 
Canterbury,  Conn.,  in  1732,  and  died  in  London,  England,  January  31, 
1780.  He  commanded  a  company  in  the  French  war,  and  in  1763,  when 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  declared,  he  resolved  to  explore  the  newly  ac- 
quired possessions  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Northwest  In  1766  he  trav- 
eled from  Boston  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river,  and  spent  the  ensuing 
winter  with  the  Sioux  on  the  Minnesota  river  in  the  vicinity  of  the  site 
of  New  Ulm,  On  his  return,  according  to  statements  published  after  his 
death,  he  negotiated  a  treaty,  May  I,  1767,  at  Carver's  cave,  in  the  east 
edge  o£  the  present  city  of  St.  Paul,  by  which  the  Sioux  granted  to  him 
a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Carver  continued 
his  explorations  by  a  canoe  journey  along  the  north  and  east  coast  of 
Lake  Superior.  He  returned  to  Boston  in  October,  1758,  -soon  sailed  to 
England,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  London. 

Carver's  'Travels  Through  the  Interior  Parts  of  North  America,"  a 
volume  of  543  pages,  with  two  maps,  was  published  in  London  in  1778, 
and  new  editions  were  issued  the  next  year  in  London  and  in  Dublin. 
After  the  author's  death,  his  friend,  Dr.  John  C.  Lettsom,  contribiriied 
to  the  third  London  edition,  in  1781,  a  biographic  account  of  Cap- 
tain Carver,  in  22  pages,  including  the  first  publication  of  the  deed  or 
grant  of  land  obtained  by  Carver  from  the  Sioux  chiefs. 

Several  American  editions  of  this  work,  wiSi  abridgment  and  changes, 
were  published  during  the  years  1784  to  1838 ;  and  translations  of  it  into 
German,  French,  and  Etatch,  were  published  respectively  in  1780,  1784, 
and  1796. 

The  Minnesota  river  is  noted  on  Carver's  map  of  his  Travels  as  "River 
SL  Pierre,  call'd  by  the  Natives  Wadapawmenesoter,"  this  being  one  of 
the  earliest  records  of  the  Sioux  name  of  this  river  and  state.  At  its  north 
side,  nearly  opposite  to  the  Bite  of  New  Ulm,  three  Sioux  teepees  are 
pictured,  with  the  statement  that  "About  here  the  Author  Winter'd  in 
1766." 

Numerous  endeavors  made  by  heirs  of  Captain  Carver  and  by  others 
to  whom  their  rights  were  assigned,  for  establishing  their  claims  and  own- 
ership of  the  large  tract  deeded  to  him  by  the  Sioux,  have  been  narrated 
by  Rev.  John  Mattocks  in  his  address  at  the  Carver  Centenary  celebra- 
tion in  1867,  published  in  Volume  11  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
Collections ;  by  John  Fletcher  Williams  in  his  "History  of  the  City  of  St, 
Paul  and  of  the  County  of  Ramsey,"  forming  Volume  IV  in  the  same  series, 
published  in  1876;  and  most  fully,  with  many  documents  submitted  to  the 
United  States  Congress,  relating  to  the  Carver  claims,   in   an  article  by 


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"    ■  CARVER  COUNTY  81 

Daitie)  S.  Durrie,  to  which  Lyman  C  Draper  added  important  foot-notes, 
in  Volume  VI,  pages  220-270,  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  Collec- 
tions, published  in  1872. 

Between  forty  and  forty-five  years  after  Carver's  death,  the  supposed 
rights  of  his  heirs  under  the  deed  were  denied  and  annuiled  in  Congress  by 
the  Committees  on  Public  Lands  and  on  Private  Land  Claims.  One  of 
the  grounds  for  this  decision  was  that  no  citizens,  but  only  the  state, 
whether  Great  Britain,  as  in  1767,  or  the  United  States  after  the  treaty 
of  1783,  could  so  receive  ownership  of  lands  from  the  aborigines. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  origins  and  meanings  of  geographic  names  in  this 
county  has  been  gathered  from  "History  of  the  Minnesota  Valley,"  1882, 
pages  352-410;  from  "Compendium  of  History  and  Biography  of  Carver 
and  Hennepin  Counties,"  R.  L  Holcombe,  historical  editor,  1915,  pages 
187-342;  and  from  John  Glaeser,  judge  of  probate;  Albert  Meyer,  register 
of  deeds,  and  Hon,  Frederick  E.  Du  Toit,  Sr.,  each  of  Chaska,  interviewed 
during  a  visit  there  in  July,  1916. 

Assumption,  a  hamlet  in  section  18,  Hancock,  received  its  name  from 
that  of  the  Catholic  church  there,  referring  to  the  ascent  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  into  heaven  and  its  anniversary,  celebrated  on  August  IS. 

Augusta,  a  railway  station  in  section  3,  Dahlgren,  was  named  in  honor 
of  the  wives  of  two  settlers  near,  each  having  this  name  and  having  come 
from  Augusta  in  Eau  Claire  county,  Wisconsin. 

B        N  hfi        etdM         85g         dayll,  1858, 

w  mdkB  tj  h  hdghed  United 

S  ThHrtB  w  dp  ervices  are 

m  d  hptl  Hdd  April  10,  1858, 

mhb  w  ddmdXe  village  of 

B  hhh  LkB  da  half  mile 

north  of  Cologne,  platted  in  June,  1880,  was  mcorporated  m  March,  1881. 

Camden  township,  settled  in  July,  1856,  had  a  village  platted  and  a  post- 
office  .established  in  the  same  year ;  but  this  township  was  not  organized 
until  the  spring  of  1859,  It  was  named  doubtless  for  some  one  of  the 
eighteen  villages  and  cities  of  this  name  in  the  older  eastern  and  southern 
states,  of  which  the  largest  is  the  city  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  on  the  Delaware 
river,  opposite  to  Philadelphia. 

Carves,  a  very  small  fractional  township  bordering  on  the  Minnesota 
river,  was  named,  tike  this  county,  in  honor  of  Jonathan  Carver.  The 
first  settlers  came  in  1851-52,  and  the  township  was  organized  May  11, 
1858.  The  village  of  Carver  was  platted  in  February,  1857,  and  was  incor- 
porated February  17,  1877,  comprising  all  the  township.  Carver  creek, 
named  by  Captain  Carver  for  himself,  the  outlet  of  Clearwater  or  Wa- 
conia  lake  and  numerous  other  lakes  of  smaller  size,  here  joins  the  Min- 
nesota river.  On  Nicollet's  map  it  is  "Odowan  E.,"  which  is  the  Sioux 
word  for  a  song  or  hymn. 


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82  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Chanhassen  township  received  its  earliest  settlers  in  June,  1852,  and 
was  organized  May  11,  1858.  The  name,  adopted  on  the  suggestion  of 
Rev.  H.  M.  Nichols,  means  the  sugar  maple,  being  formed  of  two  Sioux 
words,  chan,  tree,  and  hassen,  (for  hasan,  from  haza  or  hah-zah,  the 
huckleberry  or  blueberry),  thus  signifying  "the  tree  of  sweet  juice." 

Chaska  township  and  city,  the  county  seat,  has,  unlike  the  preceding 
name,  the  French  sound  of  Ch  like  sh.  This  was  the  name  generally 
given  in  a  Sioux  family  to  the  first-born  child,  if  a  son,  as  Winona  was 
the  general  name  of  a  first-born  daughter.  The  earliest  permanent  set- 
tlers came  in  1853,  and  the  date  of  the  township  organization  was  May 
11,  1858  The  village  was  founded  in  June,  18S4,  by  the  Shaska  Company 
"(the  name  was  thus  misspelled  in  the  act  of  incorporation  of  the  com- 
pany)." March  6,  1871,  it  was  incorporated  as  a  village,  and  on  March 
3,  1891,  as  a  city.  A  small  lake  at  the  southwest  side  of  the  city  is  named 
Chaska  lake,  and  a  creek  here  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  river  is  likewise 
called  Chaska  creek. 

This  word  is  pronounced  by  the  Sioux,  and  by  Riggs'  Dictionary,  with 
hEgrh         dfh('h       )       d'thtllg  1  d" 


N  ty 

m        ty  W 

Dahlgebn  township,  settled  m  1854,  organized  April  5,  1864,  was  nam 
ed  Liberty  in  1863.  "May  9,  1864.  the  name  of  the  town  was  changed  . .  . 
to  Dahlgren,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  state  auditor,  in  honor  of  our  dis- 
tinguished admiral,  because  the  name  Liberty  had  already  been  appropri-  ■ 
ated  by  another  town  in  the  state."  (History  of  the  Minnesota  Valley.) 
John  Adolphus  Bernard  Dahlgren,  of  Swedish  parentage,  was  bom  in 
Philadelphia,  November  13,  1809;  and  died  in  the  city  of  Washington, 
July  12,  I8?0.  He  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  U.  S.  Navy  in  1837;  was  as- 
signed to  ordnance  duty  in  Washington,  1847,  and  introduced  important 
improvements  in  the  naval  armament,  including  the  Dahlgren  gun,  which 
he  invented.  He  was  appointed  chief  of  the  bureau  of  ordnance,  July 
18,  1862,  became  rear-admiral  February  7,  1863,  and  gained  renown  for 
his  service  through  the  civil  war.  His  biography,  by  his  widow,  was  pub- 
lished in  1882  (660  pages,  with  two  portraits). 

GoTBA,  a  hamlet  in  section  1,  Hancock,  was  named  for  the  ancient  city 
of  Gotha,  in  central  Germany. 


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CARVER  COUNTY  83 

Hamburg,  a  railway  village  in  sections  28  and  33,  Young  America,  was 
named  for  the  great  German  city  and  port  of  Hamburg,  on  the  River 
Elbe,  which  was  founded  and  fortified  by  Charlemagne  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  ninth  century. 

Hancock  township,  settled  in  the  spring  o£  1856,  organized  March  23, 
1868,  was  named  in  honor  of  Winfield  Scott  Hancock.  He  was  bom  at 
Montgomery  Square,  Pa.,  February  14,  1824;  died  at  Governor's  Island, 
N,  Y.,  February  9,  1886.  After  graduation  at  West  Point,  1844,  he  served 
as  lieutenant  in  the  Mexican  War;  was  a  general  during  the  Civil  War; 
and  was  commander  of  the  military  department  of  the  Atlantic,  1872-86. 
In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1880,  he  was  the  unsuccessful  Democratic 
candidate. 

HOLLYWOOB  township,  settled  in  1856,  organized  April  3,  1860,  had  a. 
small  village  near  it  southeast  corner,  platted  in  the  autumn  of  1856  and 
named  Helvetia  by  John  Buhter,  an  immigrant  from  Switzerland,  of 
which  this  was  the  ancient  Latin  name.  Matthew  Kelly,  an  Irish  settler, 
proposed  the  township  name,  saying  that  he  had  seen  the  shrub  named 
holly,  which  is  common  in  Ireland,  growing  here  in  the  woods.  After  the 
name  had  been  adopted,  it  was  ascertained  that  the  European  holly  does 
not  occur  ia  this  country;  but  Minnesota  has  two  species  of  this  family, 
found  rarely  on  bluffs  of  Lake  Pepin,  the  St.  Croix  river,  and  northward. 

Laketown,  so  named  on  the  suggestion  of  John  Salter,  for  its  ten 
small  lakes  and  the  large  Qearwater  lake  on  its  west  boundary,  was  first 
settled  in  April,  1853,  and  was  organized  May  11,  1858.  It  was  at  first  called 
Liberty,  but  was  renamed  as  now  on  June  12,  1858,  a  month  after  the  or- 
ganization. The  Swedish  community  on  the  east  side  of  Clearwater  lake 
has  been  often  called  Scandia,  the  ancient  Roman  name  for  the  southern 
part  of  Sweden. 

Mayes,  a  railway  village  on  the  line  between  Camden  and  Waconia, 
was  named  by  officers  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  company. 

MiNNEWASHTA,  a  village  mainly  of  summer  homes,  on  the  northeast 
end  of  the  largest  lake  in  Chanhassen,  recwved  its  name  from  the  lake. 
It  consists  of  two  Sioux  words,  minne,  water,  and  washta,  good. 

New  Germany,  Ihe  railway  village  in  sections  4  and  5,  Camden,  was 
named  in  compliraetit  to  the  many  German  settlers  in  its  vicinity.  In  the 
World  War,  1914-18,  this  name  was  changed  to  Motordale,  on  account  of 
popular  indignation  against  Germany. 

NoRWOODj  a  village  and  railway  junction  in  Young  America,  platted  in 
1872  and  incorporated  in  1881,  is  said  to  have  been  "named  by  Mr.  S!o- 
cum,  an  early  banker  there,  for  an  eastern  relative  or  friend  of  his  wife." 
Fifteen  villages  and  postoffices  in  eastern  and  southern  states  have  this 

PiJ^ASANT  View,  a  village  and  summer  resort  in  section  1,  Chanhassen, 
at  the  north  end  of  Long  lake,  was  thus  euphoniously  named  by  its  pro- 
prietors. 


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84  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

San  FranciscOj  a  fractional  township  beside  the  Minnesota  river,  set- 
tled in  1854  and  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named  by  William  Foster, 
who  in  1854  platted  and  so  named  a  village  site  on  his  claim,  taking  this 
name  from  the  metropolis  of  California.  The  village  flourished  only 
about  ten  years,  and  its  site  then  reverted  to  be  farming  land. 

Victoria,  a  railway  village  in  sections  13  and  14,  Laketown,  was  named 
in  honor  of  the  queen  of  England. 

ViNLAKD,  a  hamlet  of  summer  homes  in  section  2,  Chanhassen,  at  the 
south  end  of  Christmas  lake,  was  named  for  the  region  of  temporary 
Norse  settlement,  about  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  on  the 
northeast  coast  of  North  America.  The  name  is  Icelandic,  meaning  wine- 
land,  bcause  grapes  were  found  there. 

Waconia  township,  settled  in  185S,  organized  May  11.  1858,  bears  the 
Sioux  name  of  its  large  lake,  meaning  a  fountain  or  spring.  The  village 
of  Waconia  was  platted  and  named  by  Roswell  P.  Russell  in  March,  1857. 
This  lake  is  also  called  Clearwater  lake.  "It  has  about  eighteen  miles  of 
shore,  most  of  which  is  high  with  a  gravelly  beach.  The  water  is  very 
clear,  hence  its  name,  and  well  stocked  with  fish." 

WATKnov/N,  first  settled  in  1856,  organized  April  13,  1858,  received 
this  name  "because  of  the  township's  large  water  supply,"  by  five  or  six 
lakes  and  the  South  fork  of  Crow  river.  The  village  of  Watertown, 
platted  in  1858,  was  incorporated  February  26,  1877. 

In  YouKG  America  a  village  of  this  name  was  platted  in  the  fall  of 
1856,  which  was  incorporated  March  4,  1879.  The  same  name  is  also 
given  to  a  small  lake  there.  At  the  organization  of  the  township  jn  1858,  it 
was  first  named  Farmington,  but  later  in  that  year  was  renamed  Florence ; 
and  ia  1863  it  was  again  changed  to  the  present  name,  like  its  village. 
This  name  is  a  familiar  expression  for  the  vigor  and  progressiveness  of 
the  young  people  of  the  United  States.  Its  only  use  elsewhere  as  a  geo- 
graphic name  is  for  a  village  in  Cass  county,  Indiana. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

At  the  Little  Rapids  of  the  Minnesota  river,  adjoining  the  southeast 
quarter  of  section  31,  Carver,  a  ledge  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  running 
across  the  river  bed  causes  a  fall  of  two  feet;  and  again  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  up  the  river  its  bed  is  similarly  crossed  by  this  sandstone,  having 
there  a  fall  of  slightly  more  than  one  foot.  In  the  stage  of  low  water, 
these  very  slight  falls  prevent  the  passage  of  boats;  but  at  a  fuller  stage 
the  river  wholly  covers  the  ledges,  with  no  perceptible  rapid  descent,  be- 
ing then  freely  navigable.  Fur  trading  posts  were  located  there  during 
many  years.    A  lake  there,  close  west  of  the  river,  is  named  Rapids  lake. 

In  the  list  of  townships  and  villages,  the  origins  and  meanings  of  the 
names  of  several  lakes  and  streams  have  been  'noted,  including  Lake  Ben- 
ton, Carver  creek,  Chaska  lake  and  creek,  Clearwater  or  Waconia  lake 
and  its  Coney  Island,  Lake  Minnewashta,  Long  lake  in  Chanliassen,  and 
Young  America  lake. 


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CARVER  COUNTY  85 

Names  given  in  honor  of  early  settlers,  mostly  having  taken  iiorae- 
steads  on  or  near  the  lake  or  stream  so  designated,  include  Bevins  creek, 
flowing  through  San  Francisco  to  the  Minnesota  river ;  Lakes  Lucy,  Ann, 
and  Susan,  in  Chanhassen,  the  first  and  second  being  named  respectively 
for  the  wives  of  Burritt  S.  and  William  S.  Judd,  and  the  third  for  Susan 
Hazeltine,  who  taught  the  first  school  in  Carver  county  and  is  also  com- 
memorated here,  with  her  father,  by  Hazeltine  lake;  Virginia  lake,  in 
section  6,  and  Bradford  lake,  in  sections  24  and  25,  Oianhassen,  and 
Bavaria  lake,  crossed  by  the. west  line  of  that  township,  named  for  the 
native  .»nd  of  settlers  near  it;  Pierson,  Reitz,  Schutz  (or  Goldschmidt), 
Stieger  (or  Herman),  and  Watermann's  lakes,  in  Laketown,  commemor- 
ating John  Pierson,  Frederick  Reitz,  Matthias  Schueti,  Carl  Stieger,  and 
Michael  Wassermann,  settlers  near  th«se  several  lakes ;  Buran's  lake,  for 
a  German  farmer  adjoining  it,  Adolph  Burandt,  Lake  Bonders,  and  Hyde, 
Patterson,  and  Rutz  lakes,  in  Waconia,  the  last  three  being  for  Ernst 
Heyd,  the  first  county  surveyor,  who  owned  land  there,  WiHiam  Patter- 
son, one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  and  Peter  Rutz ;  Berliner  lake,  in  section 
12,  Camden,  for  a  German  settler  from  Berlin;  Campbell  lake,  section  IS, 
Hollywood,  for  Patrick  Campbell  and  his  two  brothers,  Irish  settlers ; 
Miller's  lake,  in  section  8,  Dahlgren,  for  Herman  Mueller ;  Gruenhagen's, 
Heyer's,  Hoeffken's,  Maria,  and  Winkler's  lakes,  in  Benton,  the  first  for 
H.  F.  Gruenhagen,  the  second  for  Louis  Heyer,  the  third  for  Henry  Hoeff- 
ken,  and  the  last  for  Ignatz  Winlder;  and  Barnes,  Brandt  and  Frederick's 
lakes,  in  Young  America,  respectively  for  William  Barnes,  the  earliest 
homesteader  there,  Leroy  Brandt,  and  Frederick  Ohland. 

Eagle  lake,  in  section  34,  Camden,  was  named  for  an  eagle';  nest  there, 
in  a  very  great  cottonwood  tree. 

For  Lake  Auburn  and  Parley  and  Ziimbra  lakes,  in  Laketown,  no  in- 
formation of  the  origin  of  their  names  has  been  learned. 

Swede  lake,  in  Watertown,  was  named  for  its  several  Swedish  settlers 
by  the  earliest  of  them,  Daniel  Justus,  in  August,  18S6.  This  neighbor- 
hood was  known  as  Gotaholm  (Gota,  a  river  of  southern  Sweden,  holm, 
a  grove).  The  same  name,  Swede  lake,  was  also  formerly  borne  by  the 
present  Maria  lake,  section  36,  Benton. 

Tiger  lake,  in  Young  America,  has  reference  to  a  "mountain  lion,"  aJso 
named  the  cougar  or  puma,  seen  there  by  the  first  settlers.  This  species, 
very  rare  in  Minnesota,  more  frequent  in  the  region  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, was  mentioned  by  Carver  in  the  narration  of  his  Travels  as  "the 
Tyger  of  America,"  one  having  been  seen  by  him  on  an  island  of  the 
Chippewa  river,  Wisconsin. 

Several  other  lakes  of  this  county  have  names  of  frequent  occurrence 
and  evident  significance,  as  Rice  lake  on  the  north  line  of  Benton,  and  a 
second  Rice  lake,  section  36,  Chanhassen,  both  named  from  their  wild 
rice;  Marsh  lake,  in  section  26,  Laketown;  Mud  and  Oak  lakes.  Water- 
town;  and  Goose  aad  Swan  lakes,  in  Waconia. 


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CASS  COUNTY 

Established  September  1,  1851,  but  having  remained  without  organiza- 
tion till  189?,  this  county  commemorates  the  distinguished  statesman, 
Lewis  Cass,  who  in  1820  commanded  an  exploring  expedition  which  start- 
ed from  Detroit,  passed  through  lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  and  thence 
advanced  by  way  of  Sandy  lake  and  the  upper  Mississippi  as  far  as  to 
the  upper  Red  Cedar  lake.  This  name,  a  translation  from  the  Ojibway 
name,  was  changed  by  Schoolcraft,  the  narrator  of  the  expedition,  to  be 
Cassina  or  Cass  lake,  in  honor  of  its  commander.  He  was  born  in  Exeter, 
N.  H.,  October  9,  1782,  and  died  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  June  1?,  1866.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  years  he  came  to  Marietta,  the  first  town  founded  in 
southern  Ohio,  and  studied  law  there;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1803, 
and  began  practice  at  Zanesville,  Ohio ;  and  was  colonel  and  later  brigadier 
general  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was  governor  of  Michigan  Territory, 
1813  to  1831 ;  negotiated  twenty-two  treaties  with  Indian  tribes ;  was  sec- 
retary of  war,  in  the  cabinet  of  President  Jackson,  1831-36,  including  the 
time  of  the  Black  Hawk  war;  minister  to  France,  1836^2;  United  States 
senator,  1845-48;  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1848;  again  U.  S.  senator,  1849-57;  and  secretary  of  state,  in  the 
cabinet  of  President  Buchanan,  1857-60. 

To  voyage  along  the  upper  Mississippi  river  and  to  describe  and  map 
its  principal  source  were  the  motives  for  the  expedition  undertaken  m 
1820  by  Cass.  At  this  time  Michigan  Territory,  of  which  he  was  governor. 
Included  the  northeastern  third  of  Minnesota,  east  of  the  Mississippi ;  and 
Missouri  Territory  extended  across  the  present  State  of  Iowa  and  west- 
ern two-thirds  of  Minnesota. 

The  report  of  this  expedition,  published  the  next  year,  is  entitled* 
"Narrative  Journal  of  Travels  from  Detroit  northwest  through  the  Grejt 
Chain  of  American  Lakes  to  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi  river  in  the 
year  1820,  by  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft.  .  .  Albany,  .  .  1821"  (424  pages, 
with  a  map  and  eight  copper-plate  engravings.)  This  title-page  is  en- 
graved and  is  followed  by  another  in  print,  which  states  that  the  author 
was  "a  member  of  the  Expedition  under  Governor  Cass."  The  explora- 
tions of  the  upper  Mississippi  by  Cass  and  Schoolcraft,  of  whom  the  lat- 
ter visited  and  named  Lake  Itasca  in  1832,  are  related  in  a  chapter  of 
"Minnesota  in  Three  Centuries"  (1908,  vol.  I,  pp.  347-356,  with  their  por- 
traits.) 

Several  extended  biographies  of  General  Cass  were  published  during 
his  lifetime,  in  1848,  1852,  and  1856,  the  years  of  successive  presidential 
campaigns.  In  1889  a  marble  statue  of  him  was  contributed  by  the  State 
of  Michigan  as  one  of  its  two  statues  for  the  National  Statuary  Hall  at 


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CASS  COUNTY  87 

the  Capitol  in  Washington;  and  the  proceedings  and  addresses  in  Con- 
gress upon  the  acceptance  of  the  statue  were  published  in  a  volume  of  106 
pages.  Two  years  afterward,  in  1891,  a  mature  study  of  his  biography, 
entitled  "Lewis  Cass,  by  Andrew  C.  McLaughlin,  Assistant  Professor  of 
History  in  the  University  of  Michigan"  (363  pages),  was  published  in  the 
"American  Statesmen"  series. 

TOWNSHTPS  AND  VILLAGES. 

For  the  origins  and  meanings  of  these  names,  information  has  been 
gathered  in  October,  1909,  from  Iver  P.  Byhre,  county  auditor,  and  in 
September  1916,  from  Nathan  J,  Palmer,  clerk  of  the  court,  Mack  Ken- 
nedy, sheriff,  James  S.  Scribner,  former  county  attorney,  and  M.  S,  Mori- 
cal,  all  of  Walker,  the  county  seat,  during  my  visits  there. 

Ansel  township  received  the  name  of  an  earlier  postoffice,  which  was 
given  by  its  postmaster,  Myron  Smith,  this  being  the  first  or  christening 
name  of  one  of  the  pioneers  there. 

Backus,  the  railway  village  in  Powers  township,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Edward  W.  Backus,  of  Minneapolis,  lumberman,  president  of  the 
Backus-Brooks  Company,  and  of  the  International  Falls  Lumber  Com- 

Barclay  township  bears  the  surname  of  one  of  its  pioneers. 

BecKEK  township  was  named  for  J.  A.  Becker,  an  early  settler  there. 

Bena,  a  railway  village  adjoining  the  raost  southern  bay  of  Lake  Win- 
nebagoshish,  is  the  Ojibway  word  meaning  a  partridge,  spelled  bin^  in 
Baraga's  Dictionary.  This  game  bird  species,  formerly  common  through- 
out the  wooded  region  of  this  state,  is  the  ruffed  grouse,  called  the  "part- 
ridge" in  New  England  and  in  Minnesota,  but  less  correctly  known  as  the 
"pheasant"  in  the  middle  and  southern  states.  Longfellow  used  this 
word  in  his  "Song  of  Hiawatha," 

"Heard  the  pheasant,  Bena,  drumming." 

Beulah  township  received  its  name  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Olds,  the  wife 
of  an  early  homesteader  there,  this  being  her  first  name,  a  Hebrew  word 
meaning  married. 

Birch  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  lake  adjoining  Hackensack 
village.  It  is  translated,  as  noted  by  Gilfillan,  from  the  Ojibway  "Ga-wig- 
wasensikag  sagaiigun,  the-place-of -little-birches  lake."  On  the  map  of 
the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  it  is  called  Fourteen  Mile  lake,  indicat- 
ing its  distance  by  the  road  south  from  the  Leech  Lake  Agency. 

Boy  Lake  and  Boy  River  townships  were  named  from  their  large  lake 
and  river,  which  are  translations  of  the  Ojibway  names.  Gilfillan  wrote 
that  Woman  lake  and  Boy  lake  "are  so  called  from  women  and  boys,  re- 
spectively, they  having  been  killed  in  those  lakes  by  the  Sioux  during  an 
irruption  made  by  them."  The  date  and  origin  of  the  name  of  Boy  lake; 
whence  by  Ojibway  usage  the  outflowing  river  waslikewise  named,  are 
stated  by  Warren   in  his  "History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation"    (Minnesota 


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88  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Historical  Society  Collections,  vol,  V,  pages  222-232),  to  have  been  about 
the  year  1768,  within  a  few  years  after  the  Ojibways  had  driven  the  ■ 
Sioux  southward  from  Mille  Lacs.  A  war  party  of  Sioux  invaded  the  up- 
per Mississippi  region,  by  way  of  the  Crow  Wing  and  Gull  rivers,  and  by 
a  canoe  route,  with  portages,  through  White  Fish,  Wabedo,  and  the  Little 
Boy  and  Boy  lakes,  to  Leech  lake.  At  Boy  lake  they  "killed  three  litde 
boys,  while  engaged  in  gathering  wild  rice.  .  .  .  From  this  circumstance, 
this  large  and  beautiful  sheet  of  water  has  derived  its  Ojibway  name  of 
Que-wis-ans  (Little  Boy)."  Warren's  narration  shows  that  this  attack 
was  on  the  lower  one  of  the  two  Boy  lakes,  lying  partly  in  the  township 
named  for  it.  GilfiUan's  list  of  Ojibway  names  and  translations  has  ex- 
actly the  same  Ojibway  name  for  this  lake,  on  the  lower  part  of  Boy  river, 
and  for  the  lake  about  ten  miles  south  on  the  upper  part  of  the  river, 
which  our  maps  name  Little  Boy  lake. 

Nicollet  mapped  the  lower  Boy  lake  under  the  name  of  Lake  Hassler, 
in  honor  of  Ferdinand  Rudolph  Hassler  (b.  in  Switzerland,  1770,  d.  in 
Philadelphia,  1843),  who  was  superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  Survey. 

Bull  Moose  township  was  named  in  compliment  to  the  Progressive 
or  "Bull  Moose"  division  of  the  Republican  party,  which  supported  form- 
er President  Roosevelt  as  its  candidate  in  the  presidential  campaign  of 
191Z 

BuNGo  township  was  named  for  descendants  of  a  negro,  Jean  Bonga, 
who,  according  to  Dr.  Neill,  was  brought  from  the  West  Indies  and  was 
a  slave  of  Captain  Daniel  Robertson,  British  commandant  at  Mackinaw 
from  1782  to  1787.  His  family  intermarried  with  the  Ojibways,  and  the 
name  became  changed  to  Bungo.  George  Bonga  was  an  interpreter  for 
Governor  Cass  in  1820  at  Fond  du  Lac,  and  he  or  another  of  this  family 
was  an  interpreter  for  the  Ojibway  treaty  in  1837  at  Fort  Snelling.  Rev. 
Joseph  A.  GiifiUan  wrote  in  1897  (M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  IX,  page 
56)  :  "About  Leech  lake  there  are  perhaps  a  hundred  descendants  of  the 
negro  Bungo;  nearly  all  these  are  very  muscular,  and  some  have  been  of 
unusually  fine  physique."  This  township  has  a  Bungo  brook,  which  was 
earlier  so  named,  flowing  out  at  its  northeast  corner. 

Byron  was  named  for  Byron  Powell,  the  first  white  boy  born  in  this 
township,  son  of  Philo  Powell,  who  later  removed  to  northwestern  Can- 

Cass  Lake,  a  large  railway  village,  received  its  name  from  the  adjoin- 
ing lake,  which,  as  before  noted,  was  named,  like  this  county,  in  honor  of 
General  Cass. 

Crooked  Lake  township  took  this  nam^  from  its  Crooked  lake,  half 
of  which  extends  into  Crow  Wing  county.  It  is  a  translation  of  the  abor- 
iginal name,  Wewagigumag  sagaiigun.  By  a  resolution  of  the  state 
legislature,  March  6,  1919,  this  lake  was  renamed  Lake  Roosevelt,  in  honor 
of  President  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  two  months  previously,  on  Janu- 
ary 6,  died  at  his  home,  Oyster  Bay,  N.  Y. 


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CASS  COUNTY  ^ 

Cuba  and  Schley,  stations  of  the  Great  Northern  railway,  c 
orate  the  Spanish -American  war  of  1898. 

Cyphers,  a  railway  station  five  miles  south  of  Walker,  was  nanied  for 
a  former  resident,  who  removed  into  Huhhard  county. 

Deerfielb  township  was  named,  on  request  of  its  people,  for  the  plen- 
tiful deer  there;  but  it  also  is  a  common  geographic  name,  borne  by  town- 
ships, villages  and  postoffices  in  fourteen  other  states. 

East  Gull  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  comprising  the  greater 
part  of  the  northeast  end  of  Gull  lake,  with  its  continuation  north  to  Up- 
per Gul!  lake. 

Fairveew  township  received  this  euphonious  name  in  accordance  with 
the  petition  of  its  people  for  organization. 

Federal  Dam  is  the  railway  village  at  the  reservoir  dam  built  by  the 
United  States  government  on  Leech  Lake  river, 

Gould  township  was  named  for  M.  I.  Gould,  logger  and  farmer,  who 
owned  hay  meadows  there. 

Gull  River  station  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway,  formerly  a  place 
of  great  importance  for  its  lumber  manufacturing,  was  named  for  the 
Gull  lake  and  river,  each  a  translation  of  the  name  given  by  the  Ojibways, 
the  latter,  in  accordance  with  their  general  rule,  being  supplied  from  the 
name  of  the  lake.  This  aboriginal  name  is  noted  by  Gilfillan  as  "Ga- 
gaiashkonzJkag  sagaiigun,  the-place-iof -young-gulls  lake." 

Hackensack,  a  railway  village,  was  named  for  an  earlier  postoflice 
there,  which  derived  its  name  from  the  town  of  Hackensack  In  New  Jer- 
sey, on  the  Hackensack  river,  givfin  by  James  Curo,  who  was  ihe  first 
postmaster,  ranchman,  and  merchant  there. 

Hiram  township  was  named  by  the  petition  for  organization,  in  honor 
of  Hiram  Wilson,  an  early  settler,  who  was  yet  living  there  in  1916, 

Home  Brook  township  received  the  name  of  a  postoffice  earlier  estab- 
lished, which  had  taken  the  name  of  the  brook,  given  by  lumbermen. 
(Brook  and  creek  have  the  same  meaning  in  this  state,  the  latter  being 
the  more  common,  or  the  only  term  in  use,  through  the  greater  part  of  the 
state,  but  lumbermen  and  "iettlers  coming  from  Maine  and  others  of  the 
eastern  states  haie  in  many  cases  named  the  small  streams  as  brooks, 
especially  m  the  wooded  northeastern  third  of  Minnesota.) 

Incuabon\  township  has  a  name  of  probably  aboriginal  derivation,  but 
its  significance  has  not  been  learned.  It  was  given  to  the  township  from 
its  lake  so  named.  If  it  is  of  the  Ojibway  language,  its  original  form  and 
pronunciation  may  have  been  so  changed  as  to  be  now  unidentifiable. 
Gilfillan  gave  the  name  of  this  lake  as  "Manominiganjiki,  or  The-rice- 
field."  It  was  called  Lake  Gauss  on  Nicollet's  map,  for  the  celebrated 
German  mathematician  (b.  17?7,  d,  1855). 

Kego,  the  name  of  a  township  here,  is  a  common  Ojibway  word,  mean- 
ing a  fish,  used  as  a  general  terra  for  any  fish  species.  This  is  spelled 
Gigo  in  Baraga's  Dictionary. 


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90  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Leech  Lake  township  was  named  for  the  lake,  translated  from  the 
Ojibway  name,  noted  by  Gilfillan  as  "Ga-sagasquadjimekag  sagaiigun, 
the-place-o£-the-leeeh-lake ;  from  the  tradition  that  on  first  coming  to  it, 
the  Chippeways  saw  an  enormous  leech  swimming  in  it."  Nicollet  wrote 
that  this  aboriginal  name  "implies  .  ,  .  that  its  waters  contain  a  remark- 
able number  of  leeches." 

Lima  township  (pronounced  here  with  the  long  English  sound  of  i, 
unlike  Lima  in  Peru)  was  named  probably  for  the  city  of  Lima  in  Ohio, 
where  the  pronunciation  has  been  thus  anglicized.  Ten  other  states  have 
towns  and  villages  of  this  name. 

Loon  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  lake  in  section  20.  This  large 
water  bird  was  formerly  frequent  or  common  throughout  this  state,  and 
is  yet  common  in  its  wooded  northeast  part 

McKiNLEY  township  was  named  in  honor  of  our  third  martyr  presi- 
dent, William  McKinley,  who  was  born  in  Nifes,  Ohio,  January  29,  1843, 
and  died  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  September  14,  1901,  assassinated  by  an  anar- 
chist.    He  was  president  of  the  United  States,  1897-1901. 

Maple  township  received  this  name  on  the  petition  of  its  people  for 
organization,  referring  to  its  plentiful  sugar  maple  trees,  a  species  that  is 
common  or  abundant  throughout  Minnesota,  excepting  near  its  west  side. 
The  sap  is  much  used  for  sugar-making,  in  the  early  spring,  both  by  the 
Indians  and  the  white  people.  Warren  wrot-e  of  this  Ojibway  work  about 
Leech  lake :  "The  shores  of  the  lake  are  covered  with  maple  which  yields 
to  the  industry  of  the  hunters'  women,  each  spring,  quantities  of  sap  which 
they  manufacture  into  sugar." 

Mav  township  was  named  in  honor  of  May  Griffith,  daughter  of  a 
former  county  auditor,  Charles  Griffith,  in  whose  office  she  was  an  assist- 
ajit.  Lake  May,  formerly  called  Lake  Frances,  in  the  southwest  edge  of 
Walker  village,  is  also  named  for  her. 

Meadow  Brook  township  took  its  name  from  a  brook  where  a  school- 
house  was  built  and  so  named  before  the  township  was  organized, 

MiLDEED,  a  smail  railway  village  in  Pine  River  township,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Mrs.  Mildred'  Scofield,  first  postmistress  and  wife  of  the 
merchant  there,  who,  with  her  husband,  removed  to  the  west. 

Moose  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  small  lake  in  sections  10 
and  15. 

Mud  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  Mud  lake,  mostly  shallow 
with  a  muddy  bed  and  having  much  wild  rice,  through  which  the  Leech 
Lake  river  flows.  The  Ojibway  name  is  translated  by  Gilfillan,  "meaning 
shaUow-mud-bottomed  lake."  Nicollet  mapped  it  as  Lake  Bessel,  in  honor 
of  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Bessel  (b,  1784,  d.  1846),  a  distinguished  Prussian 
astronomer. 

NusHKA,  a  Great  Northern  railway  station  in  the  Chippewa  Indian 
Reservation,  is  an  Ojibway  word  of  exclamation,  meaning  "Lookl"  It 
is  used  by  Longfellow  in  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha." 


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CASS  COUNTY  91 

Pike  Bay  township  includes  the  large  Pike  bay,  more  properly  a 
separate  lake,  which  is  connected  on  the  north  with  Cass  lake  by  a  very 
narrow  strait  or  thoroughfare.  The  name  commemorates  Zebulon  Mont- 
gomery Pike,  the  commander  of  the  expedition  sent  to  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi in  1805-06  by  the  United  States  War  Department.  Pike  came 
■to  Cass  lake  (then  known  as  the  upper  Red  Cedar  lake)  on  February 
12,  1806,  by  a  land  march  from  Leech  lake  and  across  Pike  bay;  spent 
a  day  at  the  Northwe3.t  Company's  trading  post  there;  and  returned  on 
the  14th  by  the  same  route.  His  biography  is  presented  in  the  chapter  of 
Morrison  county,  where  he  is  honored  by  the  names  of  a  creek,  a  town- 
ship, and  rapids  of  the  Mississippi,  beside  the  site  of  his  winter  stockade 
camp. 

Pillager,  a  village  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway,  the  adjoining 
Pillager  creek,  and  the  lake  of  this  name  at  its  source,  are  derived  from 
the  term,  Pillagers,  applied  to  the  Ojibways  of  this  vicinity  and  of  the 
Leech  Lake  Reservation.  According  to  the  accounts  given  by  School- 
craft and  his  associate,  Dr.  Douglass  Houghton,  in  the  Narrative  of  the 
expedition  in  1832  to  Itasca  Lake  (pages  111,  112,  254),  this  name,  Muk- 
kundwais  or  Pillagers,  originated  in  the  fall  of  1767  or  1758,  when  a 
trader  named  Berti,  who  had  a  trading  post  at  the  mouth  of  Crow  Wing 
river,  was  robbed  of  his  goods. 

Warren  gave,  in  the  "History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation,"  written  in 
1852,  a  more  detailed  narration  of  the  robbery  or  pillage,  referring  it 
erroneously  to  the  year  1781.  The  name  Pillagers,  given  to  the  Leech 
Lake  band  of  the  Ojibways,  had  come  into  use  as  early  as  1775,  when 
the  elder  Henry  found  some  of  them  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

Pine  Lake  township,  bordering  the  most  southern  part  of  the  shore 
of  Leech  lake,  contains  eight  lakes,  with  others  crossed  by  its  boundaries. 
It  had  abundant  white  pine  timber,  and  fhence  came  this  name  of  its 
lakes,  in  sections  17  and  18,  later  given  to  the  township.  Its  largest  lake, 
in  sections  28,  32,  and  33,  is  called  Boot  lake,  from  its  outline. 

Pine  Rivek  township  is  on  the  upper  part  of  Pine  river,  which  flows 
eastward  through  White  Fish  lake  and  joins  the  Mississippi  near  the  cen- 
ter of  Crow  Wing  county.  This  township  has,  near  Mildred  station,  a 
second  but  smaller  Boot  lake,  named  for  its  having  a  bootlike  shape. 

PoNTO  Lake. township  has  a  lak«  of  this  name,  in  sections  3,  9,  and 
10;  and  an  adjoining  postoffice  is  named  Pontoria.  These  are  unique 
names,  not  in  use  elsewhere,  and  their  derivation  and  significance  remain 
to  be  learned. 

Poplar  township  had  an  earlier  postoffice  of  this  name,  referring  to 
the  plentiful  poplar  groves. 

Portage  Lake,  a  station  of  the  Soo  line,  in  the  Chippewa  Indian 
Reservation,  and  the  lake  of  this  name,  a  half  mile  distant  to  the  norlit, 
as  also  the  neighboring  Portage  bay  of  the  large  north  arm  of  Leech 
lake,  refer  to  the  canoe  portage  there  between  the  waters  of  Leech  and 


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92  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Winnebagoshish  lakes.  On  Nicollet's  map  this  Portage  lake  is  named  in 
honor  of  Duponceau  (b.  in  France,  1760,  d.  in  Philadelphia,  1844),  author 
of  a  "Memoir  on  the  Indian  Languages  of  North  America,"  published 
in  1835;  and  the  Portage  bay  bears  the  name  of  Pickering  bay  on  this 
map,  for  an  American  writer  of  another  work  on  the  same  subject,  pub- 
lished in  1836. 

Powers  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Gorham  Powers,  of  Granite 
Falls,  who  was  a  landowner  there,  having  a  summer  home  on  Sanborn 
lake,  in  section  27.  He  was  born  in  Pittsfield,  Maine,  September  14,  1840; 
served  in  the  civil  war,  1862-5 ;  was  graduated  at  the  Albany  law  school, 
1866,  and  in  the  same  year  came  to  Minnesota,  settling  in  Minneapolis ; 
removed  in  1868  to  Granite  Falls ;  was  county  attorney  of  Yellow  Medi- 
cine county,  1872-7,  and  1884-6;  was  a  representative  in  the  itate  legis- 
lature, 1879;  and  was  judge  in  the  Twelfth  judicial  district  from  1890 
until  his  death,  at  Granite  Falls,  April  15,  1915. 

Remer  township,  and  the  earlier  Remer  postoffice  and  railway  village, 
were  named  in  honor  of  E.  N.  and  William  P.  Remer,  brothers,  of  whom 
the  former  is  treasurer  and  manager  of  the  Reishus-Remer  Land  Com- 
pany, of  Grand  Rapids,  and  the  latter  was  the  first  postmaster  here. 

Rogers  was  named  in  honor  of  William  A.  Rogers,  who  had  a  home- 
stead in  this  township,  coming,  as  also  his  brothers  Nathan  and  Frank, 
from  St,  JcJin,  N.  B.  He  engaged  in  logging  as  a  contractor,  resided  in 
Walker,  and  was  killed  by  an  elevator  accident  in  Duluth.  His  son, 
Edward  L.  Rogers,  has  been  the  county  attorney  of  Cass  county  since 
1913. 

SA1.EM  was  named  by  its  settlers  in  their  petition  for  township  organ- 
ization. It  is  the  name  of  townships,  cities,  villages,  and  postoffices,  in 
thirty-two  states  of  our  Union. 

Schley,  a  Great  Northern  railway  station,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Winfield  Scott  Schley,  rear  admiral  of  the  United  States  Navy.  He  was 
born  in  Frederick  county,  Maryland,  October  9,  1839;  was  gratluated  at 
the  U.  S.  Naval  Academy  in  1860,  and  was  an  instructor  there  after  the 
civil  war ;  commanded  the  "Flying  Squadron"  in  the  Spanish -JAmerican 
war,  1898,  and  directed  the  naval  battle  off  Santiago,  Cuba;  author  of 
an  autobiography,  "Forty-five  Years  under  the  Flag"  (1904,  439  pages)  ; 
died  in  New  York  City,  October  2,  1911. 

Three  successive  stations  and  sidings  of  this  railway  in  the  north 
edge  of  Cass  county,  established  in  1898-99,  are  commemorative  of  our 
short  and  decisive  war  with  Spain,  named  Sohley,  Santiago,  and  Cuba.. 

Shingobee  township  received  this  name  from  its  creek,  being  the  gen- 
eral Ojibway  word  for  the  spruce,  balsam  fir,  and  arbor  vitae,  species  of 
evergreen  trees  that  are  common  or  abundant  through  northern  Minne- 
sota, excepting  the  Red  River  valley.  It  is  spelled  jingob  in  Baraga's 
Dictionary. 

Sifter  township  was  named  for  David  H.  Slater,  a  homestead  farmer 


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CASS  COUNTY  93 

Smoky  Hollow  was  named  hy  Levi  Morrow,  a  settler  who  came  from 
Missouri,  in  remembrance  of  his  former  home  in  the  state  of  New  York, 
near  a  locality  so  named  {or  perhaps  for  Sleepy  Hollow,  a  quiet  valley 
near  Tarrytown,  on  the  Huiison,  of  which  Irving  wrote  in  "The  Sketch 
Book").  This  township  has  in  part  a  surface  of  marginal  morainic  drift, 
remarkably  diversified  with  knolls,  ridges,  and  hollows. 

Sylvan  township  is  named  for  its  Sylvan  lake,  which  refers  to  the 
woods  or  groves  on  its  shores.  The  Ojibway  name,  noted  by  GilfiUan, 
means  Fish  Trap  lake. 

Thunder  Lake  township  is  derived  likewise  from  its  lake  of  this 
name,  which  is  probably  a  translation  of  the  aboriginal  name. 

Tmupe  township  (pronounced  in  three  syllables,  with  accent  on  the 
first,  and  with  the  short  sound  of  each)  is  named,  with  variation  of  spell- 
ing, for  the  tullibee,  a  very  common  fish  in  the  lakes  of  northern  Minne- 
sota, having  a  wide  geographic  range  from  New  York  to  northwestern 
Canada.  This  species,  Argyrosomus  tullibee  (Richardson),  closely  re- 
sembles the  common  whitefish.  The  word  was  adopted,  as  noted  by 
Richardson,  from  the  Cree  language,  Tulaby  lake,  crossed  by  the  line 
between  Becker  and  Mahnomen  counties,  was  also  named  for  this  fish, 
supplying  another  way  of  its  spelling. 

TlTBTLE  Lake  township  is  named  for  its  two  lakes  in  sections  22,  23, 
26,  and  27,  called  by  the  Ojibways,  as  recorded  by  Gilfillan,  "Mikinako- 
sagaiigunun,  or  Turtle  lakes." 

Wabedo  township  (accenting  the  first  syllable)  received  its  name 
from  its  Wabedo  lake.  Warren,  writing  in  1852  in  his  "History  of  the 
Ojibway  Nation"  (M,  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  V,  page  224),  related  that 
an  invading  war  party  of  the  Sioux,  about  the  year  1?68,  came  "into 
Wab-ud-ow  lake,  where  they  spilt  the  first  Ojibway  blood,  killing  a 
hunter  named  Wab-udiow  (White  Gore),  from  which  circumstance  the 
lake  is  named'  to  this  day  by  the  Ojibways."  The  same  party,  advancing 
northward,  killed  three  boy  g  ih  '  g  "  whence  Boy  lake  and  river 
received   their   name,    as   not  d  p        ding   page.     Gilfillan    spelled 

Wabedo  lake  as  "Wabuto      g     a  M  shroom  lake." 

Wahnena    (with  accent  th  d   syllable)    was  named   for  an 

Ojibway  chief  who  died  abo  tth    j        1895 

Wali>en  township  bears  tl  f       pond  near  Concord,  Mass., 

beside  which  Henry  D.  Tho  th         th        built  a  hut  and  lived  about 

two  years,  1845-47,  as  told  i  h  b  k  W  Iden,  or  Life  in  the  Woods," 
published  in  1854.  This  is  al  th  m  f  a  town  in  northern  Vermont, 
and  of  a  large  manufacturi  g      11  g  0     nge  county,  N.  Y. 

Walker  village,  the  countv       t  w  med  in  honor  of  Thomas  Bar- 

low Walker,  who  has  large  1  mb  g  d  land  interests  in  Cass  county 
and  in  several  other  count  f  th  Minnesota.  He  was  bom  in 
Xenia,  Ohio,  February  1,  1840  ca  t  M  nnesota  in  18S2,  and  was  the 
surveyor  of  parts  of  the  St    P     1      d  D  1  th  railway  line ;  commenced 


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94  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

in  1868  the  purchase  of  great  tracts  of  pine  lands,  and  later  built  and 
operated,  in  Crookston  and  elsewhere,  many  large  lumber  mills.  He 
resides  in  Minneapolis,  and  maintains  a  very  valuable  and  choice  art 
gallery  to  which  the  public  are  freely  welcomed.  An  autobiographic 
paper  by  Mr.  Walker  is  published  in  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
CollectiMis  (vol.  XV,  1915,  pages  455-478,  with  his  portrait). 

WILKINS0^f  township  commemorates  Major  Melville  Gary  Wilkinson, 
who  was  killed  in  a  skirmish  with  the  Bear  Island  band  of  the  Pillager 
Indians,  at  Sugar  point  on  Leech  lake,  October  5,  1898.  He  was  bom  in 
New  York,  November  14,  1835;  served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  civil  war, 
and  in  1866  entered  the  regular  army.  The  "battle  of  Sugar  point,"  and 
dealings  with  these  Ojibways  preceding  and  following  it,  are  narrated  in 
Flandrau's  "History  of  Minnesota"  (1900,  pages  229-234),  and  more  fully 
by  Holcombe  in  "Minnesota  in  Three  Centuries"  (1908,  vol  IV,  pages 
245-254). 

WooDEOw  township  received  its  name,  by  petition  of  its  citizens  for 
the  township  organization,  in  honor  of  President  Woodrow  Wilson.  He 
was  bom  in  Staunton,  Va.,  December  28,  1856;  was  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton University,  1879;  was  professor  there,  of  finance  and  political  econo- 
my, 1890-1902,  and  president,  1902-10;  author  of  several  books  on  United 
States  history  and  politics;  was  governor  of  New  Jersey,  1911-13;  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  since  March  4,  1913. 

BaySj  PointSj  and  Islands  of  Leech  Lake. 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Leech  lake  has  been  noted  for  the  township 
so  named.  It  was  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name,  the  French  trans- 
lation being  Lac  Sangsue  (which  in  English  is  a  bloodsucker,  that  is,  a 
leech). 

This  lake  has  a  very  irregular  outline,  with  numerous  bays  and  pro- 
jecting points,  and  it  contains  several  islands.  On  the  east  is  Boy  River 
bay,  named  for  its  inflowing  river,  with  Sugar  point  at  its  west  entrance,  . 
named  for  its  sugar  maples,  the  site  of  the  battle  in  1898,  when  Major 
Wilkinson  lost  his  life,  as  noted  for  the  township  of  his  name.  Bear 
island  stretches  three  miles  from  north  to  south,  lying  in  front  of  this 
bay  and  of  Rice  bay  at  the  southeast,  and  Pelican  island  lies  far  out  in 
the  southern  central  part  of  the  broad  lake,  these  names  being  translations 
from  those  given  by  the  Ojibways. 

Big  point  and  Otter  Tail  point,  respectively  on  the  southwest  and 
northwest  borders  of  the  main  lake,  guard  the  entrance  to  the  more 
irregular  western  part.  The  Peninsula  juts  into  that  part  from  the  south, 
having  itself  a  small  Peninsula  lake,  and  bounded  on  the  southeast  by 
Agency  bay  and  on  the  west  by  the  South  arm  and  West  bay.  At  the 
south  end  of  the  Peninsula,  a  passage  called  the  Narrows  leads  from 
the  South  arm  to  Agency  bay ;  and  on  the  north  the  Peninsula  is  sepa- 
rated  from  the  main   shore   by  the   North   Narrows,   and  it   terminates 


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CASS  COUNTY  95 

northeastward  in  Pine  point.  Nearly  all  these  names  are  self-explana- 
tory, having  an  obvious  significance.  The  Otter  Tai!  point,  at  the  end  of 
a  tapering  tract  of  land  about  live  miles  long,  is  a  translation  of  the  Ojib- 
way  name,  referring  to  its  outline,  which  resembles  an  otter's  tail,  simi- 
larly as  the  large  lake  and  county  of  this  name  have  reference  to  a  taper- 
ing point  of  land  adjoining  the  eastern  end  of  that  lake. 

On  the  north  end  of  the  Peninsula,  at  the  North  Narrows,  was  the 
village  of  Eshkebugecoshe  (Flat  Mouth,  b.  1?74,  d.  about  1860),  the  very 
intelligent,  friendly,  and  respected  chief  of  the  Pillager  Ojibways;  and 
close  east  of  this  village,  at  the  time  of  Schoolcraft's  visit  there  in  1832, 
was  the  trading  house  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  In  the  time  of 
Pike's  visit,  1806,  the  Northwest  Company's  trading  post  was  about. two 
miles  distant  to  the  northeast  from  the  North  Narrows,  being  opposite 
to  Goose  island. 

West  bay  in  its  north  part  branches  westward  to  the  Northwest  arm, 
entered  by  a  very  narrow  and  short  strait,  and  opens  northward,  opposite 
to  the  North  Narrows,  into  Duck  bay,  which  is  entered  with  Prairie  point 
on  the  right,  and  with  Aitkin  point,  succeeded  westward  by  the  small 
Aitkin  bay,  on  the  left.  Proceeding  five  miles  up  the  Duck  bay,  past 
Duck  island  (called  in  the  latest  atlas  Mimiesota  island),  one  comes  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  this  bay  to  the  mouth  of  the  Steamboat  river, 
"fringed  with  extensive  fields  of  wild  rice,"  whence  a  canoe  route  through 
several  little  lakes,  with  portages,  leads  to  Pike  bay  of  Cass  lake. 

Four  years  after  the  southward  journey  of  Schoolcraft  through  Leech 
lake  in  1832,  Rev.  William  T.  Boutwell,  his  companion  of  that  travel,  who 
a  year  later  had  established  a  mission  here  for  the  Ojibways,  befriended 
Nicollet  on  his  exploration  of  the  tipper  Mississippi  country,  in  his  rela- 
tions with  these  Indians.  Nicollet  spent  a  week  on  Leech  lake  in  the  middle 
of  August,  1836,  having  his  camping  place  generally  on  Otter  Tail  point. 
Boutwell's  mission  house  was  on  or  near  the  isthmus  that  connects  the 
Peninsula  with  the  mainland  of  the  present  Leech  Lake  Agency.  On 
Nicollet's  return  from  Lake  Itasca,  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  and  Cass 
lake,  he  again  camped  on  Otter  Tai!  point  during  the  first  week  of  Sep- 
tember, visited  with  Boutwell,  and  had  long  interviews  with  Flat  Mouth. 
Sucker  bay  lies  west  and  tiorth  of  Otter  Tail  point,  and  receives  Sucker 
brook  at  its  north  end.  Flea  point,  called  Sugar  point  on  Schoolcraft's 
map  of  Leech  lake,  juts  into  the  soothern  part  of  the  western  side  of  the 
bay;  and  the  present  Sucker  brook  is  designated  on  that  map  by  the  nearly 
equivalent  name  of  Carp  river.  The  Sucker  Family  of  fishes,  Catostomi- 
dae,  includes  "some  !5  genera  and  more  than  70  species,"  wholly  limited 
in  geographic  range  to  the  fresh  waters  of  North  America,  excepting 
that  two  species  occur  in  eastern  Asia.  Ulysses  O.  Cox,  in  his  "Pre- 
liminary Report  on  the  Fishes  of  Minnesota,"  published  in  1897,  wrote 
of  this  family  that  "five  genera  and  eleven  species"  were  then  known  in 
this  state.     Our  most  plentiful  species,  known  as  the  "common  sugker," 


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96  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

found  in  nearly  al!   large  lakes   of   Minnesota,   "attains  a  length   oi   18 
inches  or  mote,  ...  a  food-fish  of  considerable  importance." 

On  the  northwest  side  of  the  northern  part  of  the  main  lake  are  the 
Two  points  and  Noon  Day  point ;  and  this  part  ends  in  the  little  Portage 
bay,  called  Rush  bay  on  Schoolcraft's  map,  whence  this  map  notes  the 
"Route  to  L.  Winnipeg"  (that  is,  Winnebagoshish).  The  present  name 
of  the  bay,  refers,  as  before  mentioned,  to  that  canoe  route  and  its  port- 
age. Nicollet  named  this  most  northern  bay  of  Leech  lake  as  Pickering 
bay,  in  honor  of  John  Pickering  (b.  1777,  d.  1846),  of  Massachusetts,  a 
philologist,  who  in  1836  published  "Remarks  on  the  Indian  Languages  of 
North  America."  This  is  the  only  name  connected  with  Leech  lake  as 
mapped  in  much  crude  detail  by  Schoolcraft  and  Nicollet,  which  they  be- 
stowed otherwise  than  by  translation  of  the  Ojibway  names. 

Islands  of  Cass  Lake. 

Of  the  Ojibway  name  of  this  lake,  with  its  translation,  Giliillan  wrote: 
"Cass  lake  is  Ga-misquawakokag  sagaiigun,  or  The-p!ace-of -red-cedars 
lake,  from  some  red  cedars  growing  on  the  island ;  more  briefly,  Red  Cedar 
lake."  The  same  name  was  given  also  by  these  Indians  to  Cedar  lake  in 
Aitkin  county,  as  noted  in  the  chapter  for  that  county.  Until  the  adop- 
tion of  the  new  name,  Cassina  or  Cass  lake,  these  were  discrimioated 
respectively  as  the  upper  and  lower  Red  Cedar  lakes. 
■*  Gilfillan  further  wrote:  "The  large  island  in  the  lake  was  anciently 
called  Gamisquawako  miniss,  or  the  island  of  red  cedars.  It  is  now 
called  Kitchi  minissi  or  Great  island."  Schoolcraft  in  1832  described 
and  mapped  it  as  "Colcaspi  or  Grand  island,"  having  coined  the  former 
word  from  parts  of  the  names  of  its  three  explorers,  Schoolcraft,  Cass, 
and  Pike.  "The  town  of  Ozawindib"  (Yellow  Head,  who  was  the  guide 
of  Schoolcraft  and  his  party  in  their  expedition  to  Lake  Itasca)  was  on 
this  island,  being  a  village  of  157  people,  with  "small  fields  of  corn  and 
potatoes,  cultivated  by  the  women."  It  is  now  commonly  called  Star 
island,  and  it  has  a  small  lake,  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  long,  which 
is  called  Lake  Helen,  this  name  having  been  given  in  honor  of  Miss  Helen 
Gould,  of  New  York  City,  on  the  occasion  of  her  visit  here  about  the 
year  1900. 

Having  set  aside  the  Ojibway  name  of  Red  Cedar  island  for  the  new 
name,  Colcaspi,  Schoolcraft  gave  the  name,  "R.  Cedar  I."  on  his  map, 
to  a  small  island  on  the  southeast.  Garden  and  EIra  islands  of  Allen's 
bay,  in  Beltrami  county,  each  of  very  small  area,  are  also  mentioned  by 
Schoolcraft,  the  former  doubtless  so  named  for  its  having  been  culti- 
vated by  the  Indians. 

Lake  Winnebagoshish. 
Thompson  in  1798  gave  this  name  as  Lake  Winepegoos  in  his  Narra- 
tive, published  under  editorial  care  of  J.  B.  Tyrrell  in  1916;  but  on 
Thompson's  map,  reproduced  in  facsimile  in  that  work,  it  is  Winnip^ 
Uke. 


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CASS  COUNTY  97 

Schoolcraft's  Narrative  Journal  of  the  Expedition  in  1830  under  Gen- 
eral Cass,  published  in  1821,  called  it  Lake  Winnipec  in  the  text,  while 
the  map  spelled  it  Lake  Winnepec,  An  island  of  boulders  in  its  western 
part,  not  shown  on  maps  but  probably  lying  off  a  narrow  projecting  point, 
had  large  numbers  of  various  species  of  waterfowl,  one  of  which,  a 
pelican  found  dead,  caused  it  to  be  named  Pelican  island. 

The  map  in  the  Narrative  of  Long's  expedition,  1823,  notes  it  as 
"Lit.  Winnepeek  L. ;"  Beltrami  in  the  same  year  called  it  Lake  Winne- 
pec; and  Allen,  in  1832,  spelled  this  name  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  same  as  the 
lake  in  Manitoba.  Warren,  writing  in  1852  in  his  "History  of  the  Ojibway 
Nation  "  called  it  Lake  Winnepeg 

I     N     11  t     Rep    t   f    m  h         pi      t  18  0   p  bl   h  d        1843 

tpp         bth       thtt      d        tlmp       LkWbglhand 
tlfrmh  t        dfmthttm  p        It  ptgtht 

th    1  tt         h      bee    d    bl  d     Th  t       pi      d  bj  th    wh  t    p    pi 

th      yll  W      ext  t    th    1    t  w  th  th    1     g  d 

By  th     O]  bw  y       f  tb  t    eg         1  tl      1  k  g        ally 

P  d  I  k    tl       tym  1  g     Uy      g    t        m      f  th    W       b  g     I 

d  dLkWmibginW  (whh  td         th  t 

b  f       tl     fi     1    >!1  bl        d  h      th    E  gl   h  1     g  d     f  th      )       th 

dditi         f        th        yll  bl       h   h      G  Ifil!       f  II       d    h        th  g    phy 
t    d      d  t        rt  g    pi         bj    N  coll  t        d   d  (i    d  th  g 

bl        et  b  d  d  rtj       t       (W  filthy    b         t  h    b  d 

p  ft  mpt      h  dd  t       1      p  ft  mpt  m 

g  m        bl      w       h  d)        Tl      wl    1    1  k  h  II  w    w  th       m    tlj 

m  ddy  b  d    t      d  pth  p    b  bly      wh  d    g  20       25  f    t.       th  t 

thlg  ttmt       pthmd      d        dfthlkbttm 

d    h  1    g  tl  t        p        d  t    th  f  p  ly        q    t 

11   t       ea. 

SI        hll  dg         Imdd  fLkWmpgd 

W       p  g  M      t  b       1  d  tl   m  t  th        O]  bw  y 

m       th    f    m      m         g  m  ddy  w  t  t  d  by  K    t    g        1823 

(     I    II  p  g      7)        d  th    1  tt      m         g    L  ttl    W       p  g  d    g 

to  Hinds    Narratue  of  the  Canadian  Exploring  Expeditions     (vol.  11, 
page  42) . 

The  spelling  received  from  Nicollet,  mispronounced  by  our  white  peo- 
ple, has  been  corrected,  in  accordance  with  the  Ojibway  usage,  to  Win- 
nebagoshish,  by  treaties  of  the  United  States  with  the  Ojibways  under 
dates  of  May  7,  1864,  and  March  19,  1867,  and  4n  an  executive  order  of 
President  Grant,  May  26,  1874.  Rev.  S.  R.  Riggs,  in  a  paper  written  in 
1880,  spelled  the  name  as  "Lake  Winnebagooshish  or  Winnipeg"  (Minne- 
sota Historical  Society  Collections,  VI,  157,  158).  The  ortjiography  in  - 
the  treaties  here  cited  was  also  used  by  the  present  writer  in  the  U.  S. 
Geological    Survey    Monograph   XXV    ("The   Glacial    Lake    Agassiz"), 


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98  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

published  in  1896,  and  was  recommended  by  me  in  1899  for  general  adop- 
tion (Final  Report  of  the  Minn,  Geol.  Survey,  vol.  IV,  page  57).  It  still 
seems  to  me  desirable  that  the  corrected  spelling  and  pronunciation  be 
adopted  by  Minnesota  writers  and  speakers. 

Other  Lakes  and  Streams. 
The  list  of  townships  and  villages  has  included  sufficient  mention  of 
numerous  lakes  and  streams,  including  Birch  lake,  Woman  lake,  the  Boy 
lakes  and  river,  Cass  lake.  Crooked  lake.  Gull  river  and  lake.  Home  brook, 
Inguadona  lake.  Leech  lake.  Loon  lake.  Lake  May,  Meadow  brook.  Moose 
lake  (in  the  township  of  this  name),  Mud  lake  and  the  Leech  Lake  river, 
Pike  bay  of  Cass  lake,  Pillager  creek  and  lake.  Pine  and  Boot  lakes  (in 
Pine  Lake  township),  Pine  river,  with  the  second  Boot  lake  in  Pine  River 
township,  Ponto  lake,  Portage  lake,  Shingobee  creek.  Sylvan  lake,  Thun- 
der lake,  the  Turtle  lakes  in  the  township  named  for  them,  and  Wabedo 

On  the  canoe  route  from  Cass  lake  and  Pike  bay  to  Leech  lake,  School- 
craft named  the  first  lake,  in  sections  2  and  3,  Wilkinson,  Moss  lake,  for 
the  mosslike  water-plants  seen  growing  in  large  masses  on  the  lake  bot- 
tom, which  the  canoemen  "brought  up  on  their  paddles."  Thence  they 
made  a  portage  of  about  two  miles  southwest  into  a  lake  at  the  center 
'  of  this  township,  which  Schoolcraft  named  Lake  Shiba,  spelled  by  "the 
initials  of  the  names  of  the  five  gentlemen  of  the  party,  Schoolcraft, 
Houghton,  Johnston,  Boutwell,  Allen."  About  a  mile  farther  southwest, 
they  came  into  "a  river  of  handsome  magnitude,  broad  and  deep  but  with- 
out strong  current,"  since  named  Steamboat  river  because  it  is  ascended 
by  steamboats  from  Duck  bay  of  Leech  lake,  some  three  miles  distant. 
Steamboat  lake,  crossed  by  the  west  line  of  this  county,  lies  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  west  from  the  junction  of  the  outlet  of  Lake  Shiba  with  this  river. 

Going  from  Leech  lake  southwest  to  the  Crow  Wing  river,  School- 
craft took  a  somewhat  frequented  canoe  route,  starting  from  West  bay 
near  the  site  of  Walker  and  first  portaging  to  the  present  Lake  May 
(formerly  called  Lake  Frances),  then  named  the  Warpool  by  the  Ojib- 
ways,  who  there  began  their  war  expeditions  to  the  country  of  the  Sioux. 
■  Next  and  very  near  was  the  Little  Long  lake,  in  sections  33  and  34,  May, 
and  section  4,  Shingobee.  Thence  they  passed  up  a  little  inlet,  through 
its  four  lakelets,  and  by  portages  through  a  series  of  three  small  lakes, 
each  without  outlet,  coming  next  to  the  Long  Water  lake  in  Hubbard 
county,  at  the  head  of  the  Crow  Wing,  beginning  its  series  of  eleven 
lakes.  Schoolcraft's  Lake  of  the  Mountain  and  Lake  of  the  Island,  passed 
on  this  route  before  coming  to  the  Long  Water,  remain  unnamed  on  later 

Distances  of  travel  south  from  the  Leech  Lake  Agency,  on  the  road 
to  Hackensack  and  Brainerd,  are  noted  by  Three  Mile  lake,  Four  Mile 
lake,  Six  Mile  lake.  Ten  Mile  lake,  Fourteen  Mile  lake  at  Hackensack 


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CASS  COUNTY  99 

(called  now  Birch  lake,  translated  from  its  Ojibway  name),  with  the 
outflowing  Fourteen  Mile  creek,  the  head  of  Boj  river,  and  Twenty-four 
Mile  creek,  which  outflows  from  Pine  Mountain  lake,  being  the  head 
stream  of  Pine  river.  These  names  are  recognized  as  given  by  white 
pioneers,  being  unlike  the  majority  derived  by  translations. 

Gilflllan  wrote  that  the  long  lake  of  the  northwest  part  of  T.  144,  R. 
27,  in  the  Ciiippewa  Reservation,  between  Leech  Lake  river  and  Lake 
Winnebagoshish,  is  named  "Kitchi-bugwudjiwi  sagaiigun,  meaning  big- 
lake-in-the-wilderness  or  big- wilderness  lake." 

Bear  river  (also  called  Mud  river),  in  Salem,  flowing  into  the  south 
end  of  Mud  lake,  and  Grave  lake  at  its  head,  in  sections  10,  14,  and  15, 
Slater,  may  be  aboriginal  names  translated,  but  they  are  not  identified  in 
Gtlfiilan's  list.  Little  Sand  lake,  section  28,  Slater,  and  its  larger  com- 
panion. Sand  lake,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  this  township,  probably 
originated  as  white  men's  names,  for  Gilfillan  gave  the  Ojibway  name 
of  this  Sand  lake  as  "Mikinako  sagaiigun,  Turtle  lake."  Its  outlet  is 
noted  on  the  map  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  as  Swift  river, 
flowing  northwest  through  the  long  and  very  narrow  Swift  lake,  which 
the  Ojibways  name  "Ningitawonan  sagaiigun,  Sepa rating-canoe-route 
lake." 

Big  and  Little  Vermilion  lakes,  the  Upper  Vermilion  lakes,  and  the 
larger  Sugar  lake  (on  recent  maps  noted  as  Little  Sugar  lake),  and  Ver- 
milion river  outflowing  from  them  to  the  Mississippi,  are  translations 
from  their  Ojibway  names. 

Willow  river,  Birch  brook  and  lake  in  Lima  township.  Big  Rice  lake, 
Thunder,  Little  Thunder,  and  Turtle  lakes,  and  the  long  and  narrow 
Blind   lake   in   Smoky   Hollow   township,   are   partly   or   all   of   Ojibway 

Lakes  George  and  Washburn,  Lawrence,  Leavitt,  and  Morrison,  in 
Crooked  Lake  and  Beulah  townships,  also  the  Washburn  brook,  were 
named  for  lumbermen  who  formerly  cut  pine  logs  in  these  originally  well 
forested  townships. 

Little  Norway  lake,  named  for  its  red  or  Norway  pines,  lying  five 
miles  south  of  Wabedo  lake,  outflows  westward  to  Ada  brook  and  Pine 
river.  This  brook  and  Lakes  Ada  and  Hattie,  also  Mitten  lake  and  Lake 
Laura,  outflowing  by  Laura  brook  to  Lake  Inguadona,  need  further  in- 
quiries for  the  origins  of  their  names. 

Mule  lake,  a  mile  west  of  Wabedo  lake,  is  said  to  have  been  named 
by  the  lumbermen  for  its  outline,  resembling  a  mule's  head.  Goose  lake, 
next  on  the  west,  was  named  for  the  wild  geese. 

Girl  lake,  in  sections  33  and  34,  Kego,  and  Baby  lake,  in  sections  13, 
14,  23,  and  24,  Powers,  are  names  suggested  probably  by  Woman  and  Boy 
lakes,  which  latter  are  of  Ojibway  origin,  referring  to  persons  of  that 
tribe  slain  by  the  Sioux,  as  noted  in  the  foregoing  list  of  townships. 

Whitefish  and  Little  Whitefish  lakes,  on  the  Fourteen  Mile  creek  near 
Hackensack,  are  named,  like  the  larger  Whitefish  lake  on  the  Pine  river 


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100  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

in  Crow  Wing  county  for  their  highly  valued  fish  of  this  species,  C' 
or  abundant  in  many  lakes  of  northern  M  nnesota.  The  Ojibway  fisheries 
of  Leech  like  are  mentioned  bj  W  irren  as  follows ;  "The  waters  of 
he  lake  ibound  i  fi  h  of  the  hnest  quality,  its  whitefish  equalling  in 
size  T.nd  flavor  those  of  Lake  'superior  and  they  are  easily  caught  at  all 
seasons  of  the  jear  when  the  lake  is  free  of  ice,  in  gill-nets  made  and 
managed  aho  by  the  women 

The  Jack  Pine  lakes  two  of  small  size  near  together,  in  sections  28, 
32  and  33  Hiram  the  outfiow  ng  Pine  Lake  brook,  tlie  large  Pine  Moun- 
tain lake  whi  h  receives  th  s  brook  and  ti  outlet,  called  Twenty-four  Mile 
creek  or  Norway  brook,  flowing  through  Norway  lake,  are  lumbermen's 
names  of  the  headwaters  of  Pine  river.  . 

On  the  west  side  of  section  31,  Buli  Moose,  is  Township  Corner  lake, 
so  named  from  its  location ;  and  on  the  west  line  of  sections  18  and  19, 
Bungo,  is  Spider  lake,  named  from  its  irregular  and  branching  shape. 

Stony  creek,  flowing  into  the  eastern  end  of  Wabedo  lake.  Stony  brook, 
tributary  to  the  Upper  Gull  lake,  and  Mosquito  brook  and  Swan  creek, 
respectively  emptying  into  Crow  Wing  river  about  seven  and  fourteen 
miles  west  of  Pillager,  are  names  thai  need  no  explanations  for  thwr 

A  few  other  names  of  lakes  remain  to  be  noted,  including  Lake  Kil- 
Patrick,  through  which  Home  brook  flows,  probably  named  for  a  former 
lumberman  there;  War  Club  lake,  in  sections  9  and  16,  Deerfield,  named 
for  its  shape;  Island  lake,  in  section  7,  Powers;  Portage  lake,  in  section 
28,  Shingobee,  smaller  than  the  other  Portage  lake  near  Lake  Winneba- 
goshish ;  Bass  lake,  in  sections  24  and  2S,  Shingobee ;  Duck  or  Swamp 
lake,  a  mile  west  from  the  north  end  of  Duck  bay  o£  Leech  lake;  and 
Long  lake,  in  the  east  half  of  Kego  township 

PiLLSBURY  State  Fore 
In  1899  a  tract  of  1,000  acres   of  non-  g        It       1  1     d    f  wh    h 

the  pine  timber  had  been   cut,  was   donat  dttlSt       fM  t 

from  the  estate  of  the  late  Governor  John  SPllbytb      d 
tered  by  the  Forestry  Board  as  a  State  Fo      t      I     1  f  tl     d 

this  tract,  lying  near  the  west  shore  of   G  11  1  k      h       b  ra  d  th 

Pillsbury  Forest,    In  1904  and  later  years,  p    t      f  th  ot      t 

ally  reseeding  to  pine,  have  been  planted  witl  wh  t        d       N    w  y  j    k 
and   Scotch  pines,  and  with  Norway  and  white  spruce. 

Minnesota  National  Forest. 
By  an  act  of  Congress  approved  May  2i,  1908,  the  Minnesota  National 
Forest  was  established,  comprising  an  area  of  about  fourteen  government 
survey  townships.  It  lies  mainly  in  the  north  part  ot  Cass  county,  north 
of  Leech  lake  and  river,  extending  to  Cass  lake,  and  including  Lake 
Wiimebagoshish,  with  about  four  townships  at  its  north  and  northwest 


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CASS  COUNTY  101 

s[des  in  Itasca  county.  This  large  tract  covers  the  Chippewa,  Cass  Lake, 
and  Winnebagoshish  Indian  Reservations,  which  had  been  long  previously 
established.  The  text  of  the  law  for  this  national  forest,  fully  safe- 
guarding the  rights  of  the  Indians  to  whom  it  had  been  reserved,  is 
published  in  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Forestry  Commissioner 
of  Minnesota,  Gen.  C.  C.  Andrews,  for  the  year  1907. 

Indian  Reservations. 

Cass  county  has  the  Chippewa  Indian  Reservation,  as  it  is  officially 
named,  and  the  Leech  Lake  Indian  Reservation.  The  former  name  is 
not  clearly  definitive,  for  all  the  reservations  now  remaining  in  this  state 
have  been  set  apart  for  bands  of  the  Chippewas  (Ojibways),  excepting 
only  the  very  small  reservation,  a  mile  square,  at  the  red  pipestone  quarry 
in  Pipestone  county. 

The  Chippewa  reservation  adjoins  the  north  side  of  Leech  lake  and 
its  outlet,  the  Leech  Lake  river,  extending  thence  north  to  the  Mississippi, 
Cass  lake  and  Lake  Winnebagoshish,  and  it  also  extends  east  across  the 
Mississippi  to  include  a  tract  equal  to  about  four  townships  in  Itasca 
county.  It  was  set  apart  for  the  Ojibways  of  the  Mississippi,  in  a  treaty 
at  Washington,  March  19,  1867. 

The  Leech  Lake  reservation,  which  has  an  earlier  date,  borders  the 
south  and  east  shores  of  this  lake,  between.  Shingobee  creek  and  Boy 
river.  It  includes  the  village  of  the  Leech  Lake  Agency,  at  the  east  side 
of  Agency  bay.  This  reservation,  and  another  at  the  north  side  of  Lake 
Winnebagoshish,  whence  it  is  named,  also  a  third  reservation,  on  the 
north  side  of  Cass  lake  and  including  all  its  islands,  named  therefore  the 
Cass  Lake  reservation,  were  set  apart  for  the  Pillager  and  Winneba- 
goshish bands  of  the  Ojibways  by  a  treaty  at  Washington,  February  22, 
1855 ;  but  their  areas  were  enlarged,  by  executive  orders  of  the  President, 
'  in  IS73  and  1874. 

Boutwell  wrote  of  the  Pillager  band  at  Leech  lake  in  1832,  during 
the  expedition  with  Schoolcraft  to  Lake  Itasca :  "This  band  is  the  largest 
and  perhaps  the  most  warlike  in  the  whole  Ojibway  nation.  It  numbers 
706,  exclusive  of  a  small  band,  probably  100,  -on  Bear  Island,  one  of  the 
numerous  islands  in  the  lake"  (Minn.  Hist,  Soc.  ColJecfions,  vol.  V,  page 
481).  The  national  census  in  1910  enumerated  1,172  Ojibways  in  this 
county,  showing  decrease  of  257  from  the  census  of  1900. 


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CHIPPEWA  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  February  20.  1862,  and  organized  March  5, 
1868,  is  named  for  the  Chippewa  river,  which  here  joins  the  Minnesota. 
The  river  was  called  Manya  Wakan  (of  remarliable  or  wonderful  bluffs) 
by  the  Sioux.  Its  present  name  was  also  given  by  the  Sioux,  because 
the  country  of  their  enemies,  the  Chippewa  or  Ojibway  Indians,  extended 
south  we  St  ward-  to  the  headwaters  of  this  stream,  at  Chippewa  lake  in 
Douglas  county.  As  the  Chippewa  river  of  Wisconsin  received  its  name 
from  war  parties  of  this  tribe  descending  it  to  the  Mississippi,  likewise 
the  river  in  Minnesota  was  named  for  this  tribe,  whose  warriors  some- 
times made  it  a  part  of  their  "war  road"  to  the  Minnesota  valley,  com- 
ing with  their  canoes  from  Leech  lake  and  Milie  Lacs  by  the  Crow  Wing, 
Long  Prairie,  and  Chippewa  rivers.  The  earliest  publication  of  the  name, 
Chippewa  river,  was  by  Keating  and  Nicollet,  though  only  the  other 
Sioux  name,  Manya  Wakan,  is  given  on  Nicollet's  map.  Ojibway  is  more 
accurately  the  aboriginal  tribal  title,  which  is  anglicized  as  Chippewa, 
with  the  final  vowel  long.  The  form  Ojibway  has  been  used  in  nearly 
all  the  publications  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Sodety.  It  is  asserted 
by  Warren,  the  Ojibway  historian,  that  this  name  means  "to  roast  till 
puckered  up,"  referring  to  the  torture  of  prisoners  taken  in  war. 

By  the  early  French  voyageurs  and  writers  the  Ojibways  were  com- 
monly called  Saulteurs,  from  their  once  living  in  large  numbers  about 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Their  area,  however,  also  comprised  a  great  part 
of  the  shores  of  lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  with  the  adjoining  country 
to  variable  distances  inland.  During  the  eighteenth  century  they  much 
extended  their  range  south  west  ward,  driving  the  Sioux  from  the  wooded 
part  of  Minnesota,  and  also  spreading  across  the  Red  river  valley  to  the 
Turtle  mountain  on  the  boundary  between  North  Dakota  and  Manitoba. 

William  W.  Warren,  whose  mother  was  an  Ojibway,  prepared,  in 
1851-53,  an  extended  and  very  valuable  "History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation," 
chiefly  relating  to  its  part  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  JESS  as  Volume  V  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collec- 
tions. In  Volume  IX  of  the  same  series,  published  in  1901,  Rev.  Joseph 
A.  Gilfillan,  who  during  twenty-five  years  was  a  very  devoted  missionary 
among  the  Ojibways  in  the  White  Earth  Reservation  and  other  large  parts 
of  northern  Minnesota,  contributed  a  paper  of  74  pages,  vividly  portraying 
the  habits  and  mode  of  life  of  this  people,  their  customs  and  usages  in 
intercourse  with  each  other  and  with  the  white  people,  their  diverse 
types  of  physical  and  mental  development  and  characteristics,  and  much 
of  their  recent  history.    The  next  paper  in  the  same  volume,  14  pages,  is 


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CHIPPEWA  COUNTY  103 

by   Bishop   Whipple,   entitled   "Civilization    and    Christian izati on    of    the 
Ojibways  in  Minnesota." 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  derivatioos  and  meanings  of  names  in  this  county 
has  been  gathered  from  "History  of  the  Minnesota  Valley,"  1882,  in 
pages  913-937;  from  "History  of  Chippewa  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties," 
by  L.  R.  Moyer  and  O.  G.  Dale,  joint  editors,  two  volumes,  1916;  and 
from  Frank  K.  Bentley,  jui^e  of  probate,  J.  J.  Stennes,  county  auditor, 
and  Elias  Jacobson,  clerk  of  the  court,  also  much  from  the  late  Lycurgus 
R.  Moyer,  court  commissioner  and  editor  of  the  recently  published  county 
history,  each  of  these  being  interviewed  during  my  visit  to  Montevideo 
in  July,  1916. 

ASBURY,  a  Great  Northern  railway  station,  was  named,  like  the  villages 
and  postoifices  of  this  name  in  nine  other  stated  in  honor  of  Francis 
Asbury,  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal  bishop  in  the  United  States,  who 
was  born  in  England,  1745,  and  died  in  Virginia,  1815.  He  was  sent  by 
John  Wesley  as  a  missionarj'  to  the  American  Colonies  in  1771. 

Eic  Benb  township,  first  settled  in  July,  1867,  organized  April  7,  1874, 
received  its  name  for  the  bend  of  the  Chippewa  river  in  the  north  part  of 
this  township. 

Clara  Qtv,  a  railway  village  on  the  line  of  Rheiderland  and  Stone- 
ham,  founded  in  1887,  was  named  in  honor  of  the  wife  o£  Theodior  F. 
Koch,  one  of  the  managers  for  a  Holland  syndicate  baying  farm  lands 
and  establishing  colonies  here. 

Crate  township  was  at  first  named  Willow  Lake,  for  the  lake,  now 
drained,  which  was  crossed  by  its  south  boundary.  That  name,  however, 
could  not  be  accepted  by  the  state  auditor,  because  it  had  been  previously 
given  to  another  township  of  this  state.  The  present  name  was  selected 
by  the  citizens  July  23,  1888,  in  compliment  to  Fanning  L.  Beasley,  an 
early  homesteader  in  section  4,  this  being  a  nickname  by  which  he  was 
generally  known.    It  had  reference  to  his  middle  name,  Lucretius. 

Gkace  township,  first  settled  in  October,  1869,  and  organized  August 
9,  1880,  was  named  in  honor  of  Grace  Whittemore,  daughter  of  Augustus 
A.  Whittemore,  a  homesteader  in  section  8,  who  was  the  contractor  and 
builder  of  the  court  house  in  Montevideo. 

Granite  Falls  township,  settled  in  1866,  set  apart  for  organization 
March  9,  1880,  received  its  name  from  the  rock  outcrops  and  falls  of  the 
Minnesota  river  here.  This  name  is  also  borne  by  the  adjoining  city  of 
Granite  Falls,  which  is  the  county  seat  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  and 
which  extends  across  the  river  to  include  a  part  of  section  34  in  this  town- 

Havelock  township,  settled  in  June,  1872,  organized  October  6,  1873, 
was  named  by  John  C.  and  Aaron  J.  MuUin,  brothers,  and  other  settlers 
froin  the  eastern  provinces  of  Canada,  in  honor  of  the  English  general.  Sir 
Henry  Haveloek  (b.  1795,  d.  1857),  the  hero  who  in  1857  relieved  the 
siege  of  Lucknow,  India. 


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104  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Krageeo,  first  permanently  settled  in  1867-68,  organized  April  7,  1873, 
was  named  for  Hans  H.  Kragero,  a  pioneer  farmer  here,  whose  surname 
was  taken  from  his  native  town,  the  seaport  of  Kragero  in  southern  Nor- 
way, on  an  inlet  of  the  Skagerrak.  He  was  born  June  17,  1841 ;  was  a 
sailor,  and  afterward  lived  in  Chicago,  1866-69 ;  and  came  to  Minnesota 
in  1870,  settling  in  section  12  of  the  south  part  of  this  township. 

The  trading  post  of  Joseph  Renville,  and  the  early  Presbyterian  mis- 
sion for  the  Sioux  conducted  by  Williamson  and  Ri^s,  1835-1854,  were 
in  what  is  now  section  13  in  the  southern  corner  of  Kragero,  nearly 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Lac  qui  Parle  river  and  close  southeast  from 
the  foot  of  the  lake.  The  site  of  the  old  mission  station  is  marked  by  a 
granite  block,  inscribed  "Lac  qui  Parle  Mission,  1835." 

Leenthbop  township,  settled  in  1870,  organized  January  20,  1872,  has 
probably  a  Swedish  name,  anglicized  in  spelling. 

Lone  Tree  township,  organized  August  5,  1878,  received  it  name  for 
a  lone  and  tall  Cottonwood  tree  near  the  west  end  of  Bad  Water  or  Lone 
Tree  lake,  which  tree  was  a  landmark  for  the  first  immigrants. 

LomilSTON,  settled  in  1867,  organized  September  18,  1877,  was  named 
in  compliment  for  Laura  Armstrong,  daughter  of  Henry  Armstrong,  who 
was  a  homesteader  on  section  8,  and  who  was  elected  in  the  first  town- 
ship meeting  as  one  of  its  justices  and  a  member  of  its  board  of  super- 

Mandt,  first  settled  in  1869  and  organized  June  13,  1876,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Engelljreth  T.  Mandt,  an  early  settler  in  section  30,  at  whose 
house  the  first  town  meeting  was  held,  in  which  also  he  taught  the  first 
school  in  the  spring  of  1875. 

Mavnahd,  a  railway  village  in  Stoneham,  was  platted  in  1887  by  John 
M.  Spicer,  of  Willmar,  superintendent  of  this  division  of  the  Great 
Northern  railway,  and  was  named  "in  honor  of  his  sister's  husband." 

Milan,  the  railway  village  of  Kragero,  was  platted  December  1,  1880, 
and  was  incorporated  March  15,  1893.  This  name  of  the  great  city  in 
northern   Italy  is   borne   also  by  villages   in  twelve   other   states   of   our 

Minnesota  Falls,  a  railway  station  in  the  southern  corner  of  this 
county,  established  in  1879,  bears  the  name  of  a  township  and  former 
village  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Minnesota 
river,  where  on  a  fall  or  rapids  of  the  river  a  dam  and  a  sawmill  and  a 
flouring  milt  were  built  in  1871-72. 

Montevideo,  the  county  seat,  was  platted  May  25,  1870,  was  incorpo- 
rated as  a  village  March  4,  1879,  and  as  a  city  June  30,  1908.  This  Latin 
name,  signifying  "from  the  mountain  I  see,"  or  "Mount  of  Vision,"  was 
selected,  according  to  the  late  L.  R.  Moyer,  by  Cornelius  J.  Nelson,  a 
settler  who  came  here  in  1870  from  the  state  of  New  York,  platted  addi- 
tions to  the  village  in  1876  and  1878,  and  was  its  president  in  1881  and 
IS85-7.     The  village  and  future  city  "was  given  its  high-sounding  appella- 


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CHIPPEWA  COUNTY  105 

tion  by  its  romantic  founders,  who  were  so  delighted  by  the  wonderftil 
view  gained  from  the  heights  overlooking  the  intertocking  valleys  of  the 
Minnesota  and  Oiippewa  rivers  at  that  point,  that  they  translated  their 
feeling  into  good,  mouth-filling  Latin."  But  this  name,  while  very  appro- 
priate on  account  of  the  view  here,  was  derived  by  Nelson  from  the 
large  South  American  city,  the  capital  of  Uruguay,  whence  the  mayor  of 
that  Monfvi'lf.rt  ahf,„t  tI,P  v^^r  lOd-;  nrps™t«1  th^  TTn.onavan  flat.  tr.  thi^ 

municipal 
Anoth 
grand  pri 
aborigina 
Wakan  ( 
observing 

An  ea 
been  plal 
county  se 
Montevid 

Rheid 
settlers  f 

dary,  wh 
RoSEV 
for  a  village  m  Utiio,  whence  several  German  settlers  ot  tiiis  township 

Sparta,  settled  in  1868-9,  organized  March  22,  1870,  was  earliest  called 
Chippewa,  for  the  river;  was  renamed  by  petition  of  its  people,  several  of 
whom  had  come  from  Sparta  in  Wisconsin.  The  name  belonged  to  a 
renowned  city  of  ancient  Greece,  extremely  heroic  in  wars,  and  it  is  re- 
tained by  a  modern  city  partly  on  the  same  site,  which  has  about  4,000 
people.  This  township  "received  the  first  permanent  white  settlement  in 
the  county,  it  being  within  its  limits  that  Chippewa  City  was  situated,  and 
a  little  later  Montevideo." 

Stoneham.  organized  August  9,  1880,  was  so  named  on  the  suggestion 
of  a  settler  who  came  from  the  town  of  Stonehara,  Mass.,  near  Boston. 
A  further  motive  for  adoption  of  this  name  was  to  honor  another  of  its 
citizens.  Hammet  Stone. 

TuNSBEHG,  first  settled  in  the  spring  of  1865,  organized  March  21,  1870, 
is  thought  to  have  been  named  for  a  locality  or  a  farm  in  Norway, 

Watson,  the  railway  village  of  Tunsberg,  platted  in  August,  1879,  was 
named  by  officers  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway  com- 
pany. 

Wegdahl,  a  railway  village  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Sparta  town- 
ship, was  named  in  honor  of  the  pioneer  farmer  on  whose  land  it  was 
platted.  Hemming  Arntzen  Wegdahl,  who  was  the  first  postmaster  there. 


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106  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

His  surname  was  probably  derived  from  the  farm  of  his  native  place  in 
Norway. 

Woods  township,  settled  in  1876,  was  organized  in  1879.  "Most  of 
the  odd  sections  were  sold  to  a  land  syndicate  headed  by  Judge  William 
W.  Woods,  of  Ohio.  It  was  for  him  that  the  township  was  named." 
(History  of  Chippewa  County,  vol,  I,  page  214.) 

Streams  and  Lakes. 

The  origin  and  significance  of  the  name  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
adopted  by  the  state,  are  presented  in  the  first  chapter;  the  lake  of  this 
river,  named  Lac  qui  Parle,  will  be  considered  in  the  chapter  for  the 
county  of  that  name;  and  the  Chippewa' river,  giving  its  name  to  this, 
county,  is  fully  noticed  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  chapter. 

Hawk  creek  is  translated  from  the  Sioux  name,  "Chetambe  R.,"  given 
on  Nicollet's  map. 

Palmer  credc  was  named  for  Frank  Palmer,  one  of  the  first  settlers 
there  in  1866,  and  Brofee's  creek  was  likewise  named  for  an  early  settler, 
these  being  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  river  between  Granite  Falls  and 
Montevideo. 

Spring  creek.  Dry  Weather  and  Cottonwood  creeks,  flowing  into  the 
Chippewa  river,  need  no  explanatioa 

Shakopee  creek  and  lake,  in  the  north  part  of  Louriston,  flowing  to 
the  Chippewa  river  in  Swift  county,  received  their  name,  the  Sioux  word 
meaning  six,  from  the  Six  Mile  grove,  which  borders  the  river  along  that 
distance  and  reaches  from  the  mouth  of  Shakopee  creek  northward  into 
Six  Mile  Grove  township  at  the  center  of  that  county.  Another  name 
of  the  Shakopee  lake,  in  somewhat  common  use,  is  Buffalo  lake. 

Black  Oak  lake,  which  was  mostly  in  section  12,  Sparta,  four  miles 
east  of  Montevideo,  has  been  drained.  It  was  mapped  by  Nicollet  with 
its  equivalent  Sioux  and  English  names,  "Hutuhu  Sapah,  or  Black  Oak 
L."  A  grove  of  about  forty  acres  bordered  it,  as  stated  by  the  late  L.  R. 
Moyer,  comprising  many  large  bur  oaks,  bat  no  black  oaks,  although  the 
latter  is  generally  a  common  or  abundant  species  of  southeastern  Minne- 

Willow  lake,  previously  mentioned  in  connection  with  Crate  town- 
ship, as  now  drained,  was  named  for  its  willows,  of  which  eight  species 
or  more  are  found  frequent  or  common  throughout  the  state,  ranging  in 
size  from  low  shrubs  to  small  trees.  Three  shrubby  willow  species  and 
one  of  tree  size  are  listed  in  Chapter  HI  of  the  History  of  Chippewa 
County,  by  the  late  L.  R.  Moyer,  entitled  "The  Prairie  Flora  of  South- 
western Minnesota." 

Lone  Tree  lake,  which  gave  its  name  to  a  township,  as  before  noted, 
has  also  been  known  as  Bad  Water  lake,  being  somewhat  alkaline. 

Epple  lake,  in  sections  20  and  29,  Woods,  and  Norberg  lake,  in  section 
26,  Stoneham,  beat  the  names  of  adjacent  pioneer  settlers. 


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CHISAGO  COUNTY 

EsUbliahed  September  1  1851  and  organized  October  14  of  that  year 
this  county  bedrs  a  name  proposed  bj  Will  am  H  C  Folsom  of  Tajlor  s 
Falls  who  wrote  of  its  organization  and  the  dernaton  ot  the  name  as 
follows  (  Fifty  Yean  m  the  Northwest  18a8  on  pages  298  9  and  306) 
The  county  takes  tte  name  of  lEs  largest  and  most  beautiful  lake 
In  Its  original  or  rather  aborigma!  form  it  was  Ki  chi  sigo  from  two 
Chippewa  words  meaning  kichi  large  and  saga  fair  or  lovely  For 
euph>nic  considerations  the  first  sjUable  was  dropped 

Th  s  lake  is  conspicuous  for  its  size  the  clearness  of  its  waters  its 
winding  shore  and  islands  its  bajs  peninsulas  cipe  and  promontories 
It  has  fully  fiftv  miles  of  meandering  sh  re  line  Its  chores  an  J  islands 
are  well  timbered  with  maple  and  other  hard  woods  It  has  no  waste 
swamps,  or  marsh  borders  'W  hen  the  writer  first  came  to  Taylor  s  Falls 
this  beautiful  lake  was  unknown  to  fame  No  one  had  seen  it  or  could 
point  out  Its  location  Ind  ans  brought  fish  and  majle  sugar  from  a  lake 
which  thej  called  Kch  siga  sagiagan  or  large  ^nd  lu\dj  lake  This 
lake   they  said   abounded  with    kego    fisl 

The  movement  for  the  organ  zat  on  of  a  new  county  from  the  north 
ern  part  of  W  ashington  commenced  in  the  winter  of  1851  S2  A  f ormid 
able  petition  to  the  leg  slature  to  make  such  organization  drawn  up  and 
arculated  by  Hon  ^nsel  Smith  of  Frantonia  and  the  writer  was  duly 
forwarded  presented  and  aciluiesced  in  by  that  bodj  The  writer  had 
been  selected  to  visit  the  capita!  in  the  interest  of  tl  e  petitioners  bone 
difficulty  arose  as  to  the  name  The  writer  had  proposed  Chi  st  ga 
Th  s  Indian  name  was  nd  culed  and  Hamilton  Jackson  Franklin  and 
Jefferson  were  in  turn  proposed  The  committee  of  the  whole  finallj 
reported  in  favor  of  the  name  Chisaga  but  the  legislature  m  passing  the 
bill  for  our  county  org-mizat  oQ  by  clerical  or  typographical  error  changed 
the  last  a  in  saga  to  which  havi  g  become  the  law  has  lot  been 
changed 

In  Baragas  Diet  onar^  tl  e  second  of  the  tw  Ojibwaj  words  saga  used 
by  Folsom  to  form  this  name,  is  spelled  sasega,  or  sasegamagad,  bemg 
defined,  "It  is  fair,  it  is  ornamented,  splendid."  In  pronunciation,  this 
name  Chisago  has  the  English  sound  of  Ch,  and  it  accents  the  second 
syllable,  preferably  with  a  as  in  father  (but  in  prevailing  use  taking  the 
broad  sound  as  in  fall.) 

Townships  and  Villages. 
The  sources  of  information  for  this  county  have  been  "Fifty  Years  In 
the  Northwest,"  by  William   H.   C.  Folsom,   1888,  pages  298-354;  and 
Edward  W.  Stark,  judge  of  probate,  Alfred  P.  Stolberg,  county  attorney, 


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108  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

and  John  A.  Johnson,  sheriff,  interviewed  during  my  visit  at  Center  City, 
the  county  seat,  in  May,  1916. 

Almelund,  a  hamlet  in  the  south  part  of  Amador,  founded  about 
1887,  means,  in  the  Swedish  language,  Elm  Valley.  The  name  was 
adopted  in  compliment  to  the  first  postmaster  there,  Mr.  Almquist,  whose 
name  means  an  elm  twig  or  branch. 

Amador,  settled  in  1846,  organized  in  1858,  bears  a  name  which  means, 
in  the  Spanish  language,  a  lover,  a  sweetheart.  It  is  the  name  of  a  county 
and  a  village  in  central  California,  whence  it  was  adopted  here  by  settlers 
of  this  township  who  had  previously  visited  California.  In  the  same  way, 
probably,  came  also  this  name  as  applied  to  small  villages  in  Iowa,  Kan- 
sas, and  Michigan. 

Branch,  named  from  the  North  Branch  of  Sunrise  river  flowing 
through  this  township,  "was  set  off  from  Sunrise  and  organized  in  1872." 

Center  Citx,  a  village  in  Chisago  Lake  township,  was  platted  in  May, 
1857,  and  has  been  the  county  seat  since  1875.  Its  name  refers  to  its 
central  position,  between  Chisago  City  and  Taylor's  Falls. 

Chisago  City,  also  a  vill^e  m  Chasago  Lake  township,  was  platted  in 
1855,   taking   its   name   frpm  the  lake. 

Chisago  Lake  township,  likewise  named  for  the  beautiful  lake,  was 
settled  in  1851  and  was  organized  in  1858.  This  name,  given  to  the 
county,  has  been  fully  noticed  on  a  preceding  page. 

Fish  Lake  township,  organiied  in  1868,  having  "formerly  been  a  part 
of  Sunrise,  is  named  for  its  lake  in  section  25  and  the  outflowing  creek, 
both  of  which  are  translated  from  their  Ojibway  names. 

Fhanconia  township,  organized  ia  1858,  received  its  name  from  the 
earlier  village,  which  was  first  settled  and  named  by  Ansel  Smith,  who 
came  from  Franconia,  N.  H.,  in  the  region  of  the  White  Mountains.  The 
village  was  platted  in  5858,  and  was  incorporated  in  1884.  This  is  an 
ancient  name  of  a  large  district  in  Germany. 

Harris  township,  first  settled  in  1856,  and  organized  in  1884,  received 
its  name  from  its  earlier  railway  village,  which  was  platted  in  May,  1873, 
and  was  incorporated  in  1882,  being  named  in  honor  of  Philip  S.  Harris, 
a  prominent  officer  of  the  St,  Paul  and  Duiuth  railroad  company. 

KosT,  a  small  village  in  the  south  part  of  Sunrise,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Ferdinand  A.  Kost,  who  built  a  flouring  mill  there  in  1883. 

Lent  township,  organized  in  1872,  was  named  in  honor  of  Harvey  Lent, 
one  of  its  first  settlers,  who  came  in  1855. 

LiNDSTTtoM,  a  village  platted  in  1880  on  the  centra!  part  of  Chisago 
lake,  including  many  summer  homes  of  city  residents,  was  named  for 
Daniel  Lindstrom,  a  pioneer  farmer.  He  was  bom  in  Helsingland, 
Sweden,  in  1825;  came  to  the  United  States,  settling  here;  sold  the 
greater  part  of  his  farm  in  1878,  which  became  the  village  site,  and  con- 
tinued to  reside  here  until  his  death  in  1895. 

Nessel,  set  off  from  Rushseba  and  organized  in  1870,  bears  the  name 
of  its  earliest  pioneer  farmer,  Robert  Nessel,  who  was  born  in  Germany, 


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CHISAGO  COUNTY  109 

1834,  came  to  the  United  States  an  1847  and  to  Minnesota  in  1854,  and 
settled  here  in  18S6. 

North  Bkanch,  the  railway  village  of  Branch  town  h  p        med  f      th 
North  branch  of  Sunrise  river,  was  platted  in  Januar      1870 

Rush  City  received  this  record  by  Folsom :  "In     868  I  n 

pletion   of  the   St.   Paul  and   Duluth   railroad,   a  dep       w      b    1       nd 
station   established  at  the  crossing  of   Rush  river,  ar        i      1     h       p  dl 
grew  up  the  village  of  Rush  City.    It  was  surveyed  a  d  pi        d  b     B  n 
jamin  W.  Brunson,  surveyor,  in  January,  1870,  .  .  .  w       m      p  d 

1874." 

RusHsEBA  township,  organized  in  1858,  is  in  its  second  part  an  Ojib- 
way  name,  seba  or  sippi,  meaning  a  river.  Both  the  Rush  lake,  in  Nessel 
township,  and  its  outflowing  Rush  river,  are  translated  from  the  abori^nal 
name.  Several  species  of  bulrushes  and  other  rushes  are  common 
throughout  this  state,  one  of  which  (Scirpus  lacustris),  abundant  in  the 
shallow  borders  of  lakes,  was  "in  common  use  among  the  Indians  for 
making  mats." 

St.  Croix  River,  a  railway  station  in  the  east  edge  of  Rusheba,  is 
named  for  the  river  crossed  there,  of  which  an  extended  notice  in  respect 
to  the  origin  of  the  name  has  been  given  in  the  first  chapter. 

Shafer  township  is  noticed  as  follows  by  Folsom :  "A  Swedish 
colony  settled  here  in  1853.  .  ,  The  town  organized  first  as  Taylor's  Falls, 
but  the  name  was  changed  to  Shafer  in  1873,  ...  A  railroad  station  .  .  . 
bears  the  name  of  Shafer,  derived,  together  with  the  name  of  the  town- 
ship, from  Jacob  Shafer,  who,  as  eariy-  as  1847,  cut  hay  in  sections  4  and 
5.  He  seems  to  have  been  in  no  sense  worthy  of  the  honor  conferred  upon 
him,  as  he  was  but  a  transient  inhabitant  and  disappeared  in  1849.  No 
one  knows  of  his  subsequent  career.  The  honor  ought  to  have  been  given 
to  some  of  the  hardy  Swedes,  who  were  the  first  real  pioneers,  and  the 
first  to  make  substantial  improvements." 

Stacy,  a  railway  village  established  in  187S,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Dr.  Stacy  B.   Collins,  an  early  resident. 

Stark,  a  small  village  in  section  26,  Fish  Lake  township,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Lars  Johan  Stark,  who  was  the  first  postmaster  there.  He 
was  born  in  Westergotland,  Sweden,  July  29,  1826,  and  died  in  Harris, 
Minn.,  May  5.  1910.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1850,  and  settled 
at  Chisago  Lake,  Minn.;  engaged  in  mercantile  business  and  farming;  was 
a  representative  in  the  state  legislature  in  !86S  and  1875.  His  son,  Edward 
W.  Stark,  born  in  Fish  Lake  township,  December  S,  1869,  was  a  merchant 
at  Harris,  1890-1905;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  1901-03; 
and  has  been  judge  of  probate  for  this  county  since  1905,  residing  at 
Center  City. 

Sunrise  township,  organized  October  26,  18S8,  had  earlier  a  village 
of  this  name,  on  the  Sunrise  prairie,  where  in  1853  a  hotel  and  store  were 
built  by  William  Holmes,    The  name  is  received  from  the  take  and  river. 


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no  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

whose  Ojibway  name,  Memokage  (pronounced  in  four  syllables),  is 
translated  by  GilfiUan  as  "Sun-keep-rising." 

Taylor's  Falls,  a  village  at  the  head  of'the  Dalles  of  the  St.  Croix 
river,  platted  in  1850-51,  incorporated  in  1858,  during  many  years  the 
CoiL-ty  seat,  was  named  for  Jesse  Taylor,  who  came  in  1838,  and  Joshua 
L.  Taylor,  to  whom  the  former  sold  his  claim  in  1846.  Jesse  Taylor, 
pioneer,  was  born  in  Kentucky;  was  employed  as  a  stone  mason  at  Fort 
Snelling ;  was  the  first  settler  here,  in  1838,  and  owned  a  sawmill ;  removed 
to  Stillwater  in  184(3,  and  resided  there  until  1853;  was  a  representative 
in  the  territorial  legislature,  1851-2,  Joshua  Lovejoy  Taylor  was  born  in 
Sanbornton,  N.  H.,  in  1816;  and  died  in  Ashland,  Wis.,  April  27,  1901. 
He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1840,  settling  at  Taylor's  Falls;  engaged  in  lum- 
bering; pre-empted  a  part  of  the  site  of  this  village;  lived  in  California, 
1849-S6;  returned  here  in  1856;  removed  to  Ashland  in  1896. 

Folsom  wrote  of  this  village  and  the  adjacent  part  of  the  river,  at 
the  Interstate  bridge :  "Many  of  the  later  residents  query  as  to  why  it 
was  ever  called  Taylor's  Falls.  It  takes  a  keen  eye  to  discover  any  fall 
in  the  river  at  the  point  named.  The  falls  indeed  were  once  far  more 
conspicuous  than  they  are  now,  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  large  rock  rose 
above  the  water  at  the  ordinary  stage,  around  which  the  crowded  waters 
roared  and  swirled.  That  rock,  never  visible  in  later  days,  was  called 
Death  Rock,  because  three  hapless  mariners  in  a  skiff  were  hurled  against 
it  by  the  swift  current   and  drowned." 

WvoMiNG  township,  organized  in  1858,  derived  its  name  from  the 
Wyoming  Valley  m  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  which  is  traversed  by 
the  North  branch  of  the  Susquehanna  river.  A  colony  from  that  region 
had  settled  in  the  western  part  of  this  township  in  185S,  and  the  eastern 
part  had  been  earlier  settled  by  Swedes.  The  village  of  Wyoming  was 
platted  in  1869,  the  next  year  after  the  completion  of  the  St.  Paul  and 
Duluth  railroad,  and  ten  years  later  the  branch  from  Wyoming  to  Tay- 
lor's Falls  was  built. 

This  name,  given  also  to  the  Territory  of  Wyoming,  organized  in  1868 
and  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  state  in  1890,  is  from  the  language  of 
the  Delaware  or  Lenape  Indians,  formerly  a  large  branch  of  the  Algon- 
quian  stock,  signifying  "large  plains,"  "extensive  meadows." 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

In  the  preceding  pages  attention  has  been  given  to  the  names  of 
several  lakes  and  streams,  including  Chisago  lake,  the  Sunrise  river  and 
its  North  branch,  Fish  lake,  and  the  Rush  lake  and  river.  The  St.  Croix 
river,  belonging  to  several  counties,  is  considered  in  the  first  chapter 
with  the  large  rivers  of  this  state. 

Names  commemorating  pioneer  settlers  include  four  in  Fish  Lake 
township.  These  are  Alexis  lake,  in  sections  5  and  8,  for  John  P, 
Alexis;  Mandall  lake,  in  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  15,  for  Lars 


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CHISAGO  COUNTY  lU 

Mandall ;  Molberg  lake,  in  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  22,  for  Erick 
Molberg;  and  Neander  lake,  section  II,  named  for  Nels  P.  Neander, 
All  of  these  settlers  came  as  farmers,  themselves  or  their  parents  being 
immigrants  from  Sweden. 

Browning  creek,  in  Harris,  was  named  for  John  W.  Browning,  a 
pioneer  farmer  from  the  eastern  states  and  of  English  descent. 

Colby  lake,  about  a  mile  northwest  of  Taylor's  Falls,  was  named  for 
an  early  farmer  who  likewise  came  from  the  eastern  states. 

Bloom's  lake,  in  section  7,  Franconia,  was  named  in  honor  of  Gustaf 
Bloom,  from  Sweden,  whose  son,  David  Bloom,  has  been  since  1909  the 
county  register  of  deeds ;  and  Ogren's  lake,  in  section  12  of  this  town- 
ship, for  Andrew  Ogren,  who  was  a  soldier  in  our  civil  war. 

Linn  lake,  adjoining  the  south  end  of  the  eastern  body  of  Chisago  lake, 
was  named  for  a  family  living  at  its  west  side. 

Lake  Comfort,  in  sections  22  and  27,  Wyoming,  bears  the  name  of 
Dr.  John  W.  Comfort,  a  physician  who  lived  there  and  had  a  wide 
country  practice.     It  is  also  very  frequently  called  ''the  Doctor's  lake." 

Heim's  lake,  in  sections  29  and  30,  Wyoming,  mostly  drained,  received 
its  name  for  families  living  there,  especially  for  Conrad  Heim,  the 
pioneer. 

Martha  and  Ellen  lakes,  beside  the  railway  in  sections  1  and  12, 
Wyoming,  and  nearly  adjoining  the  north  end  of  Green  lake,  are  also 
commemorative   of   early   pioneers,   but   inquiries   have    failed   to   supply 

Other  lakes  and  creeks  in  this  county,  mostly  bearing  names  that 
scarcely  need  explanations  of  their  derivation,  are  Asp  lake,  in  the  north- 
west quarter  of  section  21,  Fish  Lake  township,  having  aspen  or  poplar 
groves ;  Pine  lake,  in  sections  23  and  26,  Nessel,  for  its  white  pines ; 
another  Pine  lake,  about  a  mile  south  from  the  most  southwestern  arm 
of  Chisago  lake,  situated,  like  the  foregmng,  near  the  southwestern  limit 
of  the  geographic  range  of  our  pines ;  Grass  lake,  about  two  miles  north- 
east of  Harris,  shallow  and  having  much  marsh  grass  on  its  borders ; 
the  Little  Duck  lake  in  section  19,  Franconia;  the  much  larger  Goose 
lake,  and  Goose  creek,  flowing  thence  eastward  to  the  St.  Croix  river; 
Spring  creek,  tributary  to  the  St  Croix  three  miles  farther  north ;  Rock 
creek,  flowing  through  the  northeast  part  of  Eushseba,  named  for  the 
conspicuous  rock  outcrops  on  the  St.  Croix  river  about  a  half  mile 
northeast  from  its  mouth;  Dry  creek,  in  section  2,  Shafer;  Hay  creek, 
flowing  into  the  Sunrise  river  three  miles  from  its  mouth ;  the  Middle, 
West,  and  South  branches  of  Sunrise  river ;  Leech  lake,  sections  35  and 
36,  Nessel,  named,  like  the  great  Leech  lake  in  Cass  county,  for  its 
plentiful  leeches ;  Horseshoe  and  Little  Horseshoe  lakes,  respectively 
in  sections  23  and  22,  Fish  Lake  township,  named  for  their  form;  Horse- 
shoe creek,  their  outlet;  Chain  lake,  in  section  6,  Branch,  named  for  its 
form  or  outline,  and  for  the  small  lakes  connected  with  it  southward  in 


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112  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

a  chainlike  series;  Mud  lake,  in  section  28,  Lent,  shallow,  with  muddy 
shores  and  bottom;  School  lake,  in  the  school  section  36,  Lent;  Spring 
lake,  one  to  two  miles  west  of  Lindstrom;  Little  lake,  a  misnomer  as  it  Is 
nearly  a  mile  long,  lying  a  mile  and  a  half  northeast  from  Center  City; 
Ice  lake,  in  section  30,  Franconia ;  Swamp  lake,  sections  14  and  23,  Fraa- 
conia;  Spider  lake,  named  for  its  branched  outline,  in  section  27,  near 
the  south  end  of  Chisago  Lake  township ;  First,  Second,  and  Third  lakes, 
consecutive  in  an  east  to  west  series,  in  sections  34  to  32,  about  a  mile 
south  and  southwest  of  Spider  lake;  Green  lake,  after  Chisago  lake  the 
second  in  size  in  this  county,  named  for  the  clearness  and  beauty  of  its 
water,  reflecting  the  verdure  of  the  grass  and  trees  on  its  banks ;  and 
White  Stone  lake,  in  sections  11  and  14,  Wyoming,  named  for  its  white 
pebbles  or  boulders. 

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of  Min        ta 

1893.     H         ea  m 

merclal         es 

The  D 

walled  W 

in  Minnesota,  and  the  Columbia  river  on  the  boundary  between  Oregon 
and  Washington,  came  from  a  French  word,  dalle,  meaning  a  fl^stone 
or  slab  of  rock,  referring  in  this  name  to  the  vertical  and  jointed  rock 
cli£Es  enclosing  the  rivers  at  the  localities  so  named,  where  in  most  in- 
stances (though  not  in  the  case  of  the  St.  Croix)  the  river  flows 
through  its  gorge  in  rapids  and  falls. 


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CHISAGO  COUNTY  113 

In  the  Upper  Dalles,  at  Taylor's  Falls,  and  again  in  the  Lower 
Dalles,  situated  two  miles  farther  down  the  river  and  reaching  a  third 
of  a  mile,  close  above  the  village  of  Franconia,  the  rock  walls  of  trap, 
Keweenawan  diabase,  rise  almost  or  quite  perpendicularly  on  each  side 
of  the  river,  inclosing  it  at  each  place  by  a  very  picturesque  gorge. 

A  paper  entitled  "Giants'  Kettles  eroded  by  Moulin  Torrents,"  con- 
tributed by  the  present  writer  to  the  Bulletin  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  America  (vol.  12,  1900,  pages  25-44,  with  a  map),  was  partly  quoted 
as  follows  by  the  Legislative  Manual  in  190?  and  1909. 

"To  nearly  every  visitor  the  most  interesting  and  wonderful  feature 
of  the  Interstate  Park  consists  in  many  large  and  small  waterworn 
potholes,  which  are  also,  in  their  large  examples,  often  called  'wells.' 
The  languages  of  Germany,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  give  the  name  'giants' 
kettles'  to  such  cylindric  or  caldron- shaped  holes  of  stream  erosion, 
which  are  everywhere  characteristic  of  waterfalls  and  rapids,  especially 
in  crystalline  rocks.  These  potholes,  occurring  most  numerously  near 
the  steamboat  landing  of  Taylor's  Falls,  at  the  centra!  part  of  the  Upper 
Dalles,  and  within  a  distance  of  fifty  rods  northward,  are  unsurpassed 
by  any  other  known  locality  in  the  world,  in  respect  to  their  variety 
of  forms  and  grouping,  their  great  number,  the  extraordinary  irregu- 
larity of  contour  of  the  much  jointed  diabase  in  which  they  are  eroded, 
and  the  difficulty  of  explanation  of  the  conditions  of  their  origin." 

Like  the  giants'  kettles  of  the  Glacier  Garden  at  Lucerne,  Switzer- 
land, these  larger  and  deeper  potholes  are  ascribed  "to  erosion  by  torrents 
of  water  falling  through  crevasses  and  vertical  tunnels,  called  moulins, 
of  an  ice-sheet  during  some  stage  of  the  Glacial  period.  In  this  park 
they  seem  referable  to  the  stage  of  final  melting  and  departure  of  the 
ice-sheet  from  this  area." 


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CLAY  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  8,  1862,  and  organized  April  14, 
1872,  was  named  for  the  greatly  admired  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  of 
Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  was  born  in  Hanover  county,  Virginia,  April 
12,  1777;  died  in  Washington,  D.  C,  June  29,  1852.  He  began  to  study 
law  in  1796,  and  in  the  next  year,  being  admitted  to  practice,  he  removed 
to  Kentucliy;  was  U.  S.  senator,  1806-7  and  1810-11;  was  a  member  of 
Congress,  1811-21  and  1823-25,  serving  as  speaker  in  !811-14,  1815-20, 
and  1823-25;  was  peace  commissioner  at  Ghent  in  1814;  was  candidate 
for  the  presideacy  in  1824;  secretary  of  state,  1825-29;  again  U.  S, 
senator,  183 W2  and  1849-52;  was  Whig  candidate  for  the  presidency 
in  1832  and  1844;  was  the  chief  designer  of  the  "Missouri  Compromise," 
1820,  and  of  the  compromise  of  1850;  was  the  author  of  the  compromise 
tariff  of  1833;  said  in  a  speech  in  1850,  "I  would  rather  be  right  than 
be  President." 

Among  the  numerous  biographies  of  Henry  Oay,  the  most  extended 
is  by  Rev.  Calvin  Colton,  six  volumes,  containing  speeches  and  corre- 
spondence, published  in  1846-57;  its  revised^  edition,  1864;  and  its  repub- 
lication in  1904,  ten  volumes,  with  an  introduction  by  Thomas  B.  Reed, 
and  a  History  of  Tariff  Legislation,  1812-1896,  by  William  McKinley. 

Carl  Schurz,  on  the  final  page  of  his  "Life  of  Henry  Clay,"  pub- 
lished in  1887  (two  volumes,  in  the  "American  Statesmen"  series), 
pointed  to  his  greatest  political  motive:  "It  was  a  just  judgment  which 
he  pronounced  upon  himself  when  he  wrote,  'If  any  one  desires  to  know 
the  leading  and  paramount  object  of  my  public  life,  the  preservation  of 
this  Union  will  furnish  the  key.' "  Near  the  end  of  the  dark  first  year 
of  our  civil  war,  and  nearly  ten  years  after  Clay  had  died,  this  county 
was  named,  Minnesota  had  then  raised  four  regiments  for  the  defence 
of  the  Union. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  and  meanings  of  names  in  this  county 
has  been  received  from  "History  ol  the  Red  River  Valley,"  two  volumes, 
1909,  pages  798-830;  from  Hon.  Solomon  G.  Comstock,  of  Moorhead, 
and  Andrew  O.  Houglum,  county  auditor,  interviewed  during  my  visit  in 
Moorhead  in  September,  1916;  and  from  Nathan  Butler,  of  Minneapolis, 
who  was  formerly  a  resident  in  Barnesville  during  twenty  years,  1883- 
1903. 

Alliance  township  was  named  (or  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  a  political 
party  of  considerable  prominence  in  Minnesota  during  the  campaign 
of  1890.  Hon.  George  N.  Lamphere,  in  a  paper  entitled  "History  of 
Wheat  Raising  in  the  Red  River  Valley"   (Minn.  Hist.   Soc.  Collections, 


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CLAY  COUNTY  115 

vol.  X,  1905,  pages  1-33),  stated  that  the  agitation  for  lower  railroad 
freight  rates,  which  was  the  cause  of  the  formation  of  the  Farmers' 
Alliance,  began  in  1883-4  in  Clay  county,  spread  thence  throughout  the 
wheat-raising  districts  of  this  state,  and  developed  into  the  People's 
or   Populist   party. 

AvEKiLi.,  a  railway  village  on  the  boundary  Hne  of  Moland  and  Spring 
Prairie,  was  named  in  honor  of  Gen.  John  Thomas  Averili,  who  was 
born  in  Alma,  Maine,  March  1,  1825,  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  October 
3,  1889.  He  was  graduated  at  Wesleyan  College;  settled  in  Lake  City, 
Minn.,  1857;  served  during  the  civil  war  in  the  Sixth  Minnesota  regi- 
ment, becoming  its  colonel  in  1864,  and  was  brevetted  a  brigadier  general 
in  1865.  After  the  war  he  founded  and  conducted  a  wholesale  paper 
house  in  St.  Paul,  under  the  name  of  Averjll,  Carpenter  and  Co.  In 
1858-60  he  was  a  state  senator ;  and  in  1872-5  represented  his  district  in 
Congress. 

Bakeb.,  a  railway  village  in  section  1,  Alliance,  was  named  for  Lester 
H.  Baker,  a  farmer  there,  who  removed  to  the  State  o£  Washington. 

Barnesville  township  was  named  after  its  railway  village,  which 
was  established  in  1874  by  George  S.  Barnes,  a  farmer  and  wheat 
merchant,  who  owned  and  managed  a  very  large  farm  near  GljTidon 
and  died  there  about  the  year  1910.  The  village  was  incorporated 
November  4,  1881,  and  received  its  charter  as  a  city  April  4,  1889. 

CoMSTOCK,  the  railway  village  of  Holy  Cross  township,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Solomon  Gilman  Comstock,  of  Moorhead,  for  whom  also 
a  township  in  Marshall  county  was  named.  He  was  born  in  Argyle, 
Maine,  May  9,  1842;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1869,  settling  in  Moorhead; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1871 ;  was  a  representative  in  the  state  legis- 
lature, 1876-7  and  1879-81 ;  a  state  senator,  1883-7;  and  a  representative 
in  Congress,  1889-91. 

Cromwell  township,  settled  partly  by  immigrants  from  England, 
was  named,  in  accordance  with  the  petition  of  its  citizens,  for  Oliver 
Cromwell  (born  1599,  died  1658). 

DiLWOHTH,  a  village  and  division  point  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway, 
three  miles   east   of   Moorhead,   was   named  by  officers   of   that   railway 


Douglas,  a  Great  Northern  railway  station  two  miles  south  of 
Georgetown,  was  named  in  honor  of  James  Douglas,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Moorhead.  He  was  bom  in  Scotland,  March  13,  1821;  came 
with  his  parents  to  the  United  States  in  1832;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1871. 
settling  in  Moorhead,  where  he  was  a  merchant,  built  the  steamboats 
Manitoba  and  Minnesota  in  1875  for  the  Red  river  trade,  and  secured 
the  building  of  a   flouring  mill. 

Downer,  the  railway  village  of  Elkton  township,  was  named  by 
officers  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  company. 

Eglon  township  bears  the  name  of  a  city  of  ancient  Palestine,  also 
of  postoffiees  in  West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Washington. 


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116  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Elkton  township  refers  to  the  elk  formerly  common  or  frequent 
here  and  in  many  parts  of  Minnesota. 

Elmwood  township  received  this  euphonious  name  in  accordance  with 
its  petition  for  organization,  alluding  to  its  abundant  elm.  trees  along 
the  South  fork  of  Buffalo  river. 

Felton  township  was  named,  after  its  railway  station,  in  honor  of 
S.  M.  Felton,  by  the  officers  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  company, 

FiNKLE,  a  railway  station  four  miles  south  of  Moorhead,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Henry  G.  Finkle,  an  early  pioneer,  of  the  firm  of  Bruns  and 
Finlde,  merchants  in  Moorhead. 

Flowing  township  has  chiefly  Scandinavian  settlers,  by  whom  this 
name  was  adopted,  but  its  significance  remains  to  be  ascertained,  unless 
it  refers  to  artesian  or  flowing  wells.  The  many  flowing  wells  in  the 
Red  river  valley,  of  which  Qay  county  and  this  township  have  a  good 
number,  are  the  subject  of  a  chapter  in  "The  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz," 
(Monograph  XXV,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1896,  pages  523-581,  with 
a  map). 

Geoecetown  was  established  as  a  trading  post  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  in  1859;  was  abandoned  in  September,  1862,  during  the  Sioux 
outbreak;  and  was  reestablished  in  1864.  The  township  received  its 
name  from  the  trading  post. 

Q,YND0K  was  platted  as  a  railway  village  in  the  spring  of  1872, 
being  named  by  officers  of  the  Northern  Padlic  railroad  company,  and 
thence  the  township  was  named.  It  is  also  the  name  of  small  villages 
in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland. 

Goose  Phaibie  township  was  named  for  the  wild  geese  formerly 
plentiful  in  its  lakes  and  sloughs. 

Hagen  township  commemorates  an  early  Norwegian  settler  of  this 
surname.     A  large  manufacturing  city  in  western  Germany  bears  this 

Hawley,  a  railway  village  settled  by  an  English  colony  in  1871, 
incorporated  February  5,  1884,  and  its  township,  at  first  called  Bethel, 
were  renamed  in  honor  of  Gen.  Joseph  Roswell  Hawley,  of  Connecti- 
cut, one  of  the  original  stockholders  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad 
company.  He  was  born  in  Ste warts ville,  N.  C,  October  31,  1826;  died 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  March  17,  1905.  He  was  graduated  at  Hamilton 
College,  1847;  was  admitted  to  practice  law,  1850;  became  editor -of  the 
Evening  Press,  Hartford,  Conn..  1857;  served  as  a  brigade  and  division 
commander  in  the  Union  army  during  the  civil  war,  and  was  brevetted 
major  general  in  I86S;  was  president  of  the  U.  S.  Centennial  Com- 
mission, 1873-77;  was  member  of  Congress,  1872-75  and  1879-81;  was 
U.  S.  senator,  1881-1905. 

Highland  Gkove  township  received  its  name  for  its  location  on  the 
high  ascent  eastward  from  the  Red  river  valley,  and  for  the  groves 
beside  its  lakes  and  on  the  Buffalo  river,  the  surface  all  about  being  mainly 


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CLAY  COUNTY  117 

Hhtekdal,  a  railway  village  on  the  line  between  Goose  Prairie  and 
Highland  Grove,  is  named  for  a  vail  jaidik  th         Nw 

Holy  Cross  township  was  named  f  p  w     d  t 

on  the  prairie  at  a  cemetery  about       half        1  t     f  tl      Red 

in  North  Dakota,  amid  a  Catholic  comm  tj  f  F  h  C  i  farm 
ers.     This  township   on  the   Minnes  t        d     w  ttl  d   by   N     w  g 

farmers,  Lutherans,  and  both  sides      f  tl  w  p       d         th 

"Holy  Cross  neighborhood." 

Humboldt  township,  settled  byaGm  ly  rnd        h 

of    the    celebrated    German    scientist    t       1        ai  d       th        \\        d 
von  Humboldt,  who  was   born  xn  1769       d  d    d         18S9      I      th     y 
1799  to   1804  he  traveled   in   South   Am  d  M  ai  d  1  t       h 

published   many  books  on  his   observ   t  f       t       1  h    t  ry 

and  political  affairs  of  this  continent 

Keene  township  was  named   fo         t    m    t    d      th         wh     w 
veteran  of  the  civil  war. 

Kbagmes  was  named  in  honor  ofAOKg  pm        tN 

wegian  farmer,   one  of  the  first  s  ttl  f  th  t  t         1  p       h        m 

from  Houston  county  in  1872.     Hewbo  Nwydmt 

the  United  states  in  1852,  with  his  p         t         1      tw     j  It  ttl  d 

in  Houston  county. 

KuBTz  township  was  named  for  Th  m      C    K    t     f    m    i  h 

of  the  Merchants'  Bank,  Moorhead    wl  m       dtPtldOg 

He  is  a  son  of  Colonel  John  D.  K    t       f  th     U    t  d  Stat      E  g 
Corps,  who   served  with  distinction  d        g  th  I  w  d  1  t 

superintendent  of  the  engineering  wok      fDlw       by      d 

Lambs,   the   railway    station   inOkprtw  df       Jh  d 

Patrick  H.  Lamb,  brothers  from  Ireland,  who  were  early  settlers  and 
engaged  extensively  in  farming,  brick-making,  railroad  construction, 
and  banking. 

MoLAND  township  was  named  by  its  Norwegian  settlers. 
Moorhead,  first  settled  in  1871,  when  the  building  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  railroad  reached  its  site,  was  named  in  honor  of  William  G. 
Moorhead,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  a  director  of  that  railroad  com- 
pany. He  was  a  partner  of  Jay  Cooke,  the  Northern  Pacific  financial 
agent,  and  his  first  wife  was  a  sister  of  Cooke.  He  was  president  of  the 
Philadelphia  and  Erie  railroad,  and  his  brother,  Gen.  James  Kennedy 
Moorhead,  was  likewise  much  interested  in  railway  development,  espe- 
cially in  the  Northern  Pacific  finances.  Moorhead  was  incorporated  as  a 
city  February  24,  1881,  and  the  township  also  bears  this  name. 

The  adjoining  city  of  Fargo,  in  North  Dakota,  was  named  for  William 
George  Fargo,  (b.  1818,  d.  1881),  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  founder  of  the 
Wells,  Far^  Express  Company  and  prominent  as  a  Northern  Pacific 
director. 

Cass  county,  North  Dakota,  adjoining  Clay  county,  and  also  its  city 
of   CasseUou,  are  named  for   Gen.   George  W.  Cass,  of  Pennsylvania, 


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118  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

who  was  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company  in  18?2-?5. 
He  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  was  a  nephew  of  Governor  Lewis  Cass,  of 
Michigan ;  was  graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point, 
in  1832;  was  president  during  twentyTfive  years  of  the  Pittsburg,  Fort 
Wayne  and  Chicago  railroad  company;  purchased  a  large  tract  adjoin- 
ing the  Northern  Pacific  line  between  fifteen  and  twenty  miles  west  of 
Fargo,  and,  employing  Oliver  Dalrymple  as  farm  superintendent,  was  the 
lirst  to  demonstrate  in  1876  the  high  agricultural  value  of  the  Red  riyer 
valley  lands  for  wheat  raising  on  a  large  scale. 

MoRKEN  township  was  named  in  honor  of  T.  O.  Morken,  its  first  home- 
steader, who  came  here  from  Houston  county  in  1875. 

MuSKODA,  a  former  station  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway  in  the  east 
edge  of  section  7,  Hawley,  had  an  Ojibway  name,  meaning  a  meadow 
or  tract  of  grass  land,  a  large  prairie.  It  is  spelled  Muskoday  in  Long- 
fellow's "Song  of  Hiawatha,"  with  accent  on  the  first  syllable.  In 
Baraga's  Dictionary  it  is  spelled  mashkode,  to  be  pronounced  in  three 
syllables  nearly  as  by  Longfellow.  A  few  miles  east  of  Clay  county, 
the  traveler  on  the  Northern  Pacific  line  passes  out  from  the  northeast 
,  forest  region,  and  thence  crosses  an  expanse  of  prairie  and  plain,  mainly 
treeless,  for  eight  hundred  miles  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  (By  a 
relocation  of  the  railroad  to  secure  an  easier  grade  in  the  next  seven 
miles  west  of  Hawley,  the  site  of  Muskoda  is  left  now  about  two-thirds 
of  a  mile  distant  at  the  north.) 

Oakport  township  has  many  oaks  in  the  narrow  fringe  of  timber 
slans  the  navigable  Red  river. 

Parke  township  was  named  probably  in  honor  of  a  pioneer  settler. 
A  county  in  western  Indiana  bears  this  name. 

RiVERTON  township  has  reference  to  Buffalo  river,  which  flows  across 
its  northern  part. 

RusTAD,  a  railway  village  in  Kurtz,  was  named  in  honor  of  Samuel 
Rustad,  a  Norwegian  merchant  there. 

RUTHRUFF,  a  railway  station  in  section  36,  Moorhead,  was  named  for 
an  adjoining  settler. 

Sabin,  a  railway  village  in  Elmwood,  is  in  honor  of  Dwight  May 
Sabin,  who  was  born  in  Manlius,  111.,  April  25,  1844,  and  died  in  Chicago, 
December  23,  1902.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1867,  and  the  next  year 
settled  in  Stillwater,  where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business,  and  in 
the  manufacture  of  machinery,  engines,  and  cars.  He  was  a  state  sena- 
tor, 1871-3,  and  a  United  States  senator,  1883-9. 

Skree  was  named  for  Mikkel  Sfcree,  a  Norwegian  farmer,  who  was 
the  first  settler  of  this  township. 

Spring  Prairie  township,  a  euphonious  name  selected  in  the  petition 
for  organization,  refers  to  its  springs  and  rivulets. 

Tansem  township  was  named  for  John  O.  Tansem,  one  of  its  pioneer 
farmers,  a  highly  respected  citizen.    He  was  born  in  Eidsvold,  Norway, 


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CLAY  COUNTY  119 

in  1842;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1861;  settled  here,  in  the  most 
southeastern  township  of  this  county,  in  1862. 

Ulek  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Ok  Ulen,  its  first  settler. 
He  was  bom  in  Norway,  April  18,  1818,  and  died  in  Ulen  village  Janu- 
ary 19,  1891.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1851,  and  to  Minnesota 
in  1853,  settling  in  Houston  county;  was  a  farmer  there  until  1867; 
removed  to  this  county  in  1872. 

ViDlNG  township  was  named  for  a  Swedish  settler  there. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

Buffalo  river  is  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name  of  its  southern 
tributary  flowing  from  lakes  in  and  near  Audubon,  in  Becker  county,  of 
which  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Gilfillan  wrote  that  it  "is  called  Pijikiwi-zibi,  or 
Buffalo  river,  from  the  fact  that  buffaloes  were  always  found  wintering 
there."  Hence  the  while  people  have  erroneously  called  the  whole 
river  Buffalo  river.  On  Nicollet's  map  it  is  named  "Pijihi  or  Buffalo  R." 
The  name  used  by  the  Ojibways  for  our  Buffalo  lake  in  Becker  county, 
and  for  the  Buffalo  river,  flowing  thence  to  the  Red  river,  would  be 
correctly  translated  as  Beaver  lake  and  Beaver  river. 

Near  the  middle  of  the  west  side  of  Kragnes  township,  on  the  Red 
river  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  Sheyenne,  a  townsite  named  LaFay- 
ette  was  surveyed  in  March,  1859;  and  there  in  April  of  that  year,  "the 
first  steamboat  on  the  Red  river  was  built  .  .  .  the  materials  for  which 
were  transported  across  the  country  from  Crow  Wing  on  the  Mississippi, 
where  the  steamer  North  Star  was  broken  up  for  that  purpose.  The 
new  boat  was  named  the  Anson  Northup."  (Lamphere,  M.  H.  S.  Collec- 
tions, vol.  X,  1905,  pages  16,  17;  History  of  the  Red  River  Valley,  1909, 
pages  569-572.) 

The  Sheyenne  river  (here  spelled  unlike  the  Cheyenne  river  of  South 
Dakota  and  the  city  Cheyenne,  capital  of  Wyoming),  flowing  into  the 
Red  river  from  North  Dakota,  received  this  name,  given  by  Nicollet  as 
"Shayenn-oju  R.,"  from  the  Sioux,  designating  it  as  the  river  of  the 
Cheyenne  tribe,  meaning  "people  who  speak  a  strange  language."  Rev. 
T.  S.  Williamson  wrote  (M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  I,  pages  295-301)  that 
when  the  Sioux  first  came  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  the  lowas  occu- 
pied' the  country  about  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river,  and  the  Chey- 
ennes  had  their  villages  and  cultivated  fields  "on  the  Minnesota  between 
Blue  Earth  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  whence  they  moved  to  a  western  branch 
of  Red  river  of  the  North,  which  still  bears  their  name."  Thompson 
recorded  the  narration  in  1798  by  an  Ojibway  chief,  of  an  Ojibway 
war  party  who  attacked  and  destroyed  the  Cheyenne  village  west  of  the 
Red  river,  probably  about  1775  or  1780,  but  perhaps  five  or  ten  years 
later.  (Thompson's  Narrative,  edited  by  Tyrrell,  1916,  pages  236,  261-3). 
Next  this  tribe  removed  to  a  second  Cheyenne  river,  west  of  the  Missouri 
in  Soutii  Dakota,  and  yet  later  they  migrated  farther  across  the  plains  to 
the  west  and  south. 


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120  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Wild  Rice  river,  whose  South  branch  runs  through  Ulen  and  Hagen, 
and  the  river  of  the  same  name  in  North  Dakota,  tributary  to  the  Red 
river  nine  miles  south  of  Fargo  and  Moorhead,  are  translated  from  the 
Ojibway  names,  referring  (o  their  valued  native  grain,  the  wild  rice, 
much  harvested  by  the  Indian  women  for  food.  It  also  gave  the  name 
of  Mahnomen  county,  and  is  more  fully  roticed  in  the  chapter  for  that 
county. 

No  explanations  seem  needed  for  the  names  of  Hay  creek,  tributary  to 
the  Bufialo  river  in  section  33,  Highland  Grove,  and  a  second  Hay 
creek  in  Skree  and  Elkton;  Spring  creek,  tributary  to  the  last  and  join- 
ing it  two  miles  southeast  of  Downer;  and  Stony  and  Willow  creeks, 
flowing  through  Barnesville  township  to  the  South  branch  of  Buffalo 
river.  Each  of  the  two  creeks  last  named  has  been  sometimes  called 
Whiskey  creek,  in  allusion  to  a  great  spree  of  the  railway  graders  when 
the  former  railway  line  from  Breckenridge  to  Barnesville  was  com- 
pleted. Another  name  for  Stony  creek,  crossed  by  the  railway  two  nwies 
north  of  the  city  of  Barnesville,  is  Sieber's  creek,  for  Rudolph  Sieber, 
iriio  had  a  milk  farm  at  its  north  side. 

Deerhorn  creek,  in  Alliance  township,  flowing  northwestward  from 
Wilkin  county  to  the  South  brancli  of  Buffalo  river,  received  its  name 
from  antlers  shed  by  deer  and  found  by  the  pioneer  settlers. 

The  east  margin  of  Clay  county,  above  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,  has 
numerous  small  lakes,  but  only  a  few  have  received  names  on  maps. 
These  bearing  names  are  Silver  lake,  in  section  26,  Hawley,  in  allusion 
to  its  placid  and  shining  surface;  Moe  lake,  in  sections  2,  11,  and  12, 
Eglon,  for  Nels  R.  Moe,  the  farmer  on  its  west  side;  Sand  lake,  in 
the  east  half  of  section  12,  Eglon,  for  its  sandy  shore ;  Solum  lake,  in 
the  southwest  quarter  of  the  same  section,  for  H.  H.  Solum,  whose 
farm  adjoins  it;  Lee  lake,  in  sections  9  and  16,  and  Perch  lake  in  section 
17,  Eglon;  Turtle  lake,  crossed  by  the  east  line  of  section  12,  Parke; 
and  Grove  lake,  partly  in  section  36,  Tansem,  lying  mostly  in  Otter  Tail 
county. 

Buffalo  Delta  of  Lake  Agassiz. 
Where  the  Buffalo  river  enters  the  area  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz, 
a  delta  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand  was  deposited  during  the  earliest 
and  highest  stage  of  the  ancient  lake.  The  Herman  or  first  beach  and 
the  east  edge  of  the  delta  were  crossed  by  the  Northern  Pacific  rail- 
road at  Muskoda,  and  the  extent  of  the  delta  from  north  to  south,  on 
both  Slides  of  the  river,  is  seven  miles,  with  a  width  from  two  to  three 
and  a  half  miles.  (U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  Monograph  XXV,  1896, 
pages  290-292,  with  map  and  section.) 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY 

This  countj  establi'ihed  December  20  1902  reL.ened  its  name  from 
the  Clearwater  rner  and  lake  which  he  partly  within  its  drea  For  the 
formerlj  great  industry  of  pine  lumbering  this  was  a  very  important 
river  the  logs  being  floated  down  from  the  head  stream  and  its  trifau 
taries  into  Clearwater  lake  and  thente  to  the  Red  Lake  river  and  the 
sawmills  at  Crookston.  Another  Clearwater  river  likewise  flowing 
through  a  lake  of  the  same  name  empties  into  the  lii'sissippi  at  the 
town  of  Cledrwater  in  Wright  oountv  Both  of  the^e  rivers  with  their 
lakes  and  also  the  Eau  Claire  or  Clearwater  rner  in  Wisconsin  derive 
their  names  h\  tran'ilation  from  those  given  b)  the  Ojibwajs  and  other 
Indnan  tribes  long  before  the  coming  of  white  men  Accordmg  to  Rev 
Joseph  A  Gilfillan  the  Oj  lb  way  name  of  this  river  and  the  county  mean 
ing  Clearwater  is  Ga  vtakomitigweia  The  name  Clear  Water  river 
was  used  by  Thompson  m  1/98  and  on  Nicollet  a  map  1843  It  was 
called  Clear  river  on  the  map  of  Lungs  Expedition    182^ 

The  quality  denoted  by  thi^  term  Llearwater  is  in  contrast  witli  the 
more  or  le^s  muddv  and  siltv  waters  of  the  Missouri  Minnesota  and 
most  other  rivers  especially  when  thej  are  in  high  flocd  stages  caused 
by  the  melting  of  winter  snows  at  the  return  of  spring  or  bj  exception- 
ally heavy  rim'  the  inflowmg  drainage  having  washed  diwn  mi  th  mud 
clay  and  sand 

Another  very  remarkable  contrast  to  clearness  m  river  and  lake 
waters  i^  surpri-iingly  'ihown  bv  other  "itreims  of  the  northern  woods 
and  swamps  colored  dark  and  jellowish  bv  the  dramage  to  them  from 
decaying  leaves  fallen  branches  and  trunk'  of  dead  trees  -ind  peatv 
soil  but  mo&t  of  all  where  e^ctensive  peat  tiwamps  and  bogs  supply 
water  in  any  time  of  considerable  drought  long  saturated  with  the  peat 
and  dec-iving  vegetdtion  In  some  cdses  as  the  Rat  Root  river  and 
Black  or  Rat  Root  bay  i  f  Raanv  lake  in  Koochiching  countj  seen  during 
niy  travel  in  August  391t)  the  very  dark  water  nearly  or  quite  stagnant 
although  containing  almost  no  mud  or  silty  matter  i'  yet  the  antithesis  of 
clearness  -or  transparency  being  to5  dark  for  one  to  see  into  it  even  to 
a  depth  of  only  two  or  three  feet.  From  frequent  acquaintance  with 
similar  peatnStained  streams,  the  observant  Ojiibways  were  wont  to  dis- 
tinguish other  streams  of  opposite  character  by  naming  them  for  thdr 
crystal  clearness. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  and  meanings  of  names  was  gathered 
from  F.  A.  Norquist,  county  treasurer,  Frederick  S.  Kalberg,  editor 
of  the  Clearwater  Crystal,  and  Albert  Kaiser,  banker,  of  Bagley,  during 


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122  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

my  visit  in  September,  1909;  from  T.  L,  Tweite,  county  treastirer,  in 
my  second  visit,  September,  1916;  and  for  the  Itasca  State  Park,  lying 
mostly  in  this  county,  from  Volumes  VII  and  XI,  Minnesota  Historical 
Society  Collections,  1893  and  1905,  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower. 

Alida  (accented  on  the  second  syllable,  with  the  long  English  sound 
of  its  vowel),  a  village  in  section  10,  Bear  Creek,  was  named  by  Governor 
John  Lind.    Indiana  and  Kansas  also  have  postoffiees  of  this  name. 

Bagley  village,  the  county  seat,  was  named  in  honor  of  Sumner  C 
Bagley,  an  early  lumberman  of  tliis  part  of  the  Clearwater  river,  who 
removed  to  Fosston  in  1885  and  died  diere  in  1915. 

Bear  Creek  township  is  named  for  its  Bear  creek,  flowing  into  the 
Mississippi  river  in  section  26. 

Chusnes,  a  former  postofEce  in  section  35,  Greenwood,  was  named 
for  its  postmaster,  Alexander  Churnes,  a  Norwegian  pioneer  farmer. 

Clearbeook,  the  railway  village  in  Leon,  took  its  name  from  the 
brook  there. 

Clovek  township,  organized  in  1914,  received  this  name  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  James  N.  Vail,  an  early  settler, 

Copley  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Lafayette  Copley,  one  of  its 
first  pioneers,  who  removed  in  1916  to  western  Oregon.  He  came  from 
Massachusetts;  was  the  builder  of  five  dams  on  the  tipper  Clearwater 
river,  used  by  T.  B.  Walker  for  log-driving. 

Dudley  was  named  in  honor  of  Frank  E.  Dudley,  who  was  a  county 
commissioner  of  Beltrami  county  when  this  township  was  organized, 
before  the  establishment  of  Clearwater  county.  He  was  born  in  Geauga 
county,  Ohio;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1881;  was  mayor  of  Bemidji,  1900-02. 

Ebho,  a  railway  station  seven  miles  west  of  Bagley,  has  the  name  of 
a  river  in  northeastern  Spain. 

Eddy  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Frank  M.  Eddj',  of  Sauk  Cen- 
ter, Minn.  He  was  born  iti  Pleasant  Grove,  Minn,  April  1,  1856;  was 
a  school  teacher,  and  later  a  land  examiner  for  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  company;  was  clerk  of  the  district  court  of  Pope  county,  1884- 
94;  was  a  representative  in  Congress,  1895-1903. 

GONVICK,  the  railway  village  of  Pine  Lake  township,  was  named  for 
Martin  O.  Gkinvick,  an  early  Norwegian  settler  there. 

Greenwood  township  was  so  named  in  its  petition  for  organization, 
probably  in  allusion  to  the  verdure  of  its  woods, 

Hancaasb  township  was  named  for  Gunder  G.  Hangaard,  its  first 
homesteader,  who  came  from  Norway.  Gunder  postoffice,  at  his  home 
in  section  19,  was  also  named  for  him. 

Holst  township  received  its  name  in  honor  of  H.  J.  Hoist,  a  Norwe- 
gian pioneer  farmer  there,  who  was  sheriff  of  this  county  in  1904-08. 

Itasca  township  lies  next  north  of  Itasca  lake  and  the  State  Park. 

Leon  township  is  for  Leon  Dickinson,  the  first  white  child  born  there, 
son  of  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  who  later  removed  to  Montana. 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY  123 

Leonard,  the  railway  village  of  Dudley  township,  was  named  for 
Leonard  French,  first  child  of  an  early  settler,  Geoi^e  H.  French,  who 
became  a  merchant  of  this  village. 

Mallaho,  a  village  in  sections  5  and  8,  Itasca,  received  it  name  for 
the  adjoining  lake,  having  many  mallard  ducks. 

Meadows,  a  former  postoffice  in  Greenwood,  now  discontinued,  was 
named  for  the  wide  natural  meadows  of  the  Clearwater  river. 

MiNEEVA  township  was  named  for  the  Roman  goddess  of  wisdom,  by 
Frederick  S.  Kaiberg,  owner  of  the  Pinehurst  farm  on  the  southeast 
side  of  Lake  Minerva,  section  13. 

Moose  Ceeek  township  has  the  small  creek  so  named,  flowing  from 
section  21  t    the  north  a  t  and  east. 

Neving  a  po  t  fti  n  ar  the  month  of  Clearwater  lake,  in  Sinclair 
township,  wa  na  d  f  a  lumberman  and  farmer  there,  Robert  Neving, 
who  remo  ed  to  Sa  kat  h  wan  about  the  year  1910. 

Nora  tow  1  p  wa  amed  in  honor  of  Knut  Nora,  a  Norwegian 
pioneer   fa  m      th  ho  was  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  county 

commissioners.    He  removed  to  North  Dakota  several  years  ago. 

Olberg,  a  former  small  village  in  the  north  edge  of  section  22,  Leon, 
named  for  Anton  Olberg,  a  pioneer  from  Norway,  was  superseded  by 
Clearbrook  when  the  railway  was  built  there. 

Pine  Lake  township  has  the  large  lake  of  this  name,  outflowing  by 
Pine  river,  a  tributary  of  Lost  river.  The  original  wealth  of  this  region 
consisted  in  its  timber  of  the  white  and  Norway  pines,  but  the  timber 
lands  are  now  largely  changed  into  farms. 

Popple  township  was  named  for  its  plentiful  poplar  woods,  misspelled 
and  mispronounced,  by  quite  common  usage,  in  this  name. 

Rice  township  refers  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Wild  Rice  river,  with 
the  Rice  lakes.  This  river  flows  through  the  northwest  corner  of  this 
township. 

Shevlin  township  and  railwav  village  were  named  in  honor  of  the  late 
Thomas  Henrv  Shevlm  of  Mmneapolis  He  was  born  in  Albany,  N. 
Y  Januarv  3  18S2  died  m  Pasadena,  Cal  January  IS,  1912.  He  came 
to  Mmnesota  in  1886  settlmg  m  Mmneapolis ;  was  president  of  several 
loggmg  and  lumber  manufacturmg  eompimes,  cutting  much  pine  timber 
m  this  county  He  was  donor  of  the  Alice  A.  Shevlin  Hall,  University 
of  Mmnesota   built  in  1906 

Sinclair  township  received  its  name  in  honor  of  an  early  land  sur- 

Weme  (pronounced  m  two  "lyllables)  a  small  hamlet  in  section  18, 
Eddy,  was  named  for  Hans  Weme  a  Norwegian  merchant,  who  was  its 
first  postmaster 

Wn-LBORG  a  former  postoffice  in  the  south  part  of  Eddy,  was  named 
for  a  Swedish  farmer  Mart  E  WiUborg  who  was  the  first  postmaster 
and  was  the  ciuntv  judge  of  probate  in  the  years  1904-09. 


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124  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

WiNSoB  township  is  in  honor  of  Hans  C.  Widness,  a  Norwegian 
farmer,  who  was  the  first  postmaster  there.  The  name  of  the  postoffice 
(now  discontinued)  and  township  was  thus  changed  and  anglicized  in 
accordance  with  his  suggestion. 

Among  names  of  discontinued  postofEces,  two  of  fanciful  or  romantic 
significance  were  Moonlight,  in  section  3,  Eddy,  and  Starlight,  in  section 
21,  Sinclair. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

In  the  foregoing  list  of  townships  and  villages,  attention  has  been 
given  to  Bear  creek.  Clear  brook.  Mallard  lake,  Moose  creek,  and  the 
Pine  lake  and  river. 

Rice  lake  and  the  Upper  Rice  lake,  and  the  Wild  Rice  river,  have 
probably  borne  these  names  in  four  successive  languages,  the  Dakota  or 
Sioux,  the  Ojibway,  French,  and  English.  The  oldest  printed  reference 
is  in  the  narrative  of  Joseph  La  France,  a  French  and  Ojibway  half- 
breed;  who  in  1740-42  traveled  and  hunted  with  the  Indians  of  a  large 
region  in  northwestern  Minnesota  and  in  Canada  northward  to  Lakes 
Winnipeg  and  Manitoba  and  Hudson  bay.  In  the  story  of  his  wandering, 
given  by  Dobbs  in  "An  Account  of  the  Countries  adjoining  to  Hudson's 
Bay,"  published  in  London  in  1744,  La  France  described  the  Upper  RJce 
lake,  in  Bear  Creek  and  Minerva  townships  of  this  county,  as  follows : 
"The  Lake  Du  Siens  is  but  small,  being  not  above  3  Leagues  in  Circuit; 
but  all  around  its  Banks,  in  the  shallow  Water  and  Marshes,  grows  a 
kind  of  wild  Oat,  of  the  Nature  of  Rice;  the  outward  Husk  is  black,  but 
the  Grain  within  is  white  and  clear  like  Rice;  this  the  Indians  beat  off 
into  their  Canoes,  and  use  it  for  Food."  (Minnesota  in  Three  Centuries, 
1908,  vol.  I,  pages  299^302.)  This  French  name,  Du  Siens,  seems  proba- 
bly to  be  from  the  Dakota  word,  psin,  meaning  wild  rice. 

Giliillan  gave  the  present  Ojibway  name  of  this  Upper  Rice  lake  as 
"Ajawewesitagun  sagaiigun,  meaning  the  lake  where  there  is  a  portage 
from  water  running  one  way  to  waters  running  the  opposite  way,  or 
briefly,  Height-of-Iand  lake."  The  portage  was  from  the  Mississippi 
river  through  this  lake  into  the  Wild  Rice  river. 

Seven  miles  distant  westward,  lying  on  the  course  of  the  Wild  Rice 
river,  is  the  larger  Rice  lake,  in  T.  145,  R.  38,  of  this  county,  where  our 
names  of  both  the  river  and  lake  are  received  from  the  Ojibway  name, 
noted  by  Gilfillan  as  "Ga-manominiganjikawi  zibi.  The  river  where  wild 
rice  stalk  or  plant  is  growing;  so  called  from  the  last  lake  through 
which  it  flowed."  According  to  the  prevalent  usage  of  the  Ojibways, 
they  gave  to  the  river  their  name  of  the  lake  whence  it  flows. 

Nearly  all  the  area  of  this  lower  Rice  lake  has  only  shallow  water, 
one  to  five  feet  deep,  so  that  the  lake  is  filled  with  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  wild  rice.  It  presents  in  the  late  summer,  when  viewed  from  a 
distance,  the  appearance  of  a  grassy   marsh.     The  greater  part  of  this 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY  125 

valuable  grain  gathered  for  food  by  the  Indians  of  the  White  Earth 
reservation  is  obtained  from  this  lake  and  the  Upper  Rice  lake. 

Thompson's  map,  from  his  field  notes  in  1798,  has  Wild  Rice  river ; 
Long's  map,  1823,  has  this  name,  and  also  Rice  lake;  and  Nicollet's  map, 
1843,  has  "Manomin  R.  or  Wild  Rice  R."  and  "Rice  L." 

Four-legged  lake,  in  Dudley,  is  a  translation  of  its  Ojibway  name, 
given  by  Gilfillan  as  "Nio-gade  (pronounced  in  four  syllables)  .  .  . 
from  an  old  Indian  of  that  name  who  liyed  there."  Its  outlet  flows  west 
into  Ruffee  creek,  called  by  the  Ojibways  Four-kgged  creek,  which  flows 
north  to  the  Qearwater  river.  Our  name  of  this  creek  is  in  honor  of 
Charles  A.  Ruffee,  of  Brainerd^  who  was  appointed  in  1874  by  Governor 
Davis  to  make  inquiries  and  report  on  "the  condition  of  the  several 
bands  of  Chippewa  Indians  of  Minnesota,"  with  recommendations  for 
state  legislation  toward  their  "ultimately  becoming  citizens  of  the  State." 
("Aborigines    of   Minnesota,"    1911,    pages   671-3.) 

Lost  river,  flowing  from  Hoist  and  Eddy  northwest  and  west  to  join 
the  Oearwater  river  in  Red  Lake  county,  received  its  name  for  its 
formerly  passing  in  section  17,  Winsor,  and  for  several  miles  onward, 
beneath  a  floating  bog  in  a  spruce  swamp;  but  its  course  has  been  opened 
by  a  state  ditch,  with  reclamation  of  adjoining  lands   for  agriculture, 

Peterson  lake,  in  sections  4  and  5,  Hoist,  was  named  for  Nels  M. 
Peterson,  owner  of  the  land  on  its  south  side. 

Popple  township  has  Minnow  lake,  named  for  its  little  fishes,  in 
section  22,  near  the  sources  of  Clearwater  river;  and  Sabe  lake,  a 
name  whose  origin  was  not  ascertained,  on  the  south  side  of  section  24. 

Lake  Lomond,  adjoining  the  north  end  of  Bagley  village,  was  named 
by  Randolph  A.  Wilkinson,  of  St.  Paul,  general  solicitor  of  the  Great 
Northern  railway  company,  for  the  "bonny  Loch  Lomond"  of  Scotland, 
the  largest  and  most  beautiful  lake  in  Great  Britain. 

Walker  brook,  flowing  into  the  Oearwater  river  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  Bagley  village,  was  named  for  Thomas  B.  Walker,  of  Minneapolis, 
who  engaged  extensively  during  many  years  in  lumbering  on  the  Clear- 
water river  and  its  brandies.  He  is  also  honored  by  the  name  of  the 
county  seat  of  Cass  county,  as  noted,  with  a  biographic  sketch,  in  its 

Nora  township  has  Walker  Brook  lake,  in  section  1 ;  Mud  lake,  crossed 
by  the  east  side  of  sections  25  and  36;  and  Mosquito  creek,  flowing  west 
and  southwest,  tributary  to  Rice  lake. 

Little  Mississippi  river,  beginning  in  the  north  part  of  Shevlin,  on 
a  nearly  level  tract  within  a  mile  south  of  the  Clearwater  river,  runs 
south  and  southeast  to  Manomin  or  Rice  lake  and  the  Mississippi  in 
the  southeast  part  of  Jones  township,  Beltrami  county.  It  was  called 
Piniddiwin  river  by  Schoolcraft  in  1832,  an  abbreviation  of  the  Ojibway 
name,  meaning  "the  place  of  violent  deaths,  in  allusion  to  an  inroad  and 
murder  committed  at  this  place,  in  former  times,  by  the  Sioux"  (that  is, 
at  or  near  the  month  of  this  stream). 


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126  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Tamarack  lake,  in  sections  26  and  35,  T.  146,  R.  38,  is  named  for 
the  isclosing  woods,  consisting  largely  of  the  tamarack,  our  American 

Long  lake,  in  section  24,  Rice,  extending  southeast  into  Itasca  town- 
ship, and  Heart  lake,  in  section  25,  Rice,  are  named  from  their  shape. 

Gill  and  Sucker  lakes,  in  sections  20  and  29,  Itasca,  are  named  for 
their  species  of  fish,  caught  in  giH  nets. 

Big  La  Salle  lake  is  crossed  by  the  east  line  of  sections  12  and  13, 
Itasca,  lying  partly  in  Hubbard  county.  It  is  tributary,  with  the  smaller 
La  Salle  lake,  a  mile  and  a  half  farther  north  in  that  county,  to  the 
Mississippi  by  a  short  stream  flowing  north,  which  was  named  La  Salle 
rjver  by  Glazier  in  1881.  These  recent  names,  in  the  latest  atlas  of 
Minnesota,  are  adopted  to  preserve  in  this  region  one  of  the  historic  names 
used  by  Schoolcraft  and  Nicollet,  who  described  and  mapped'  a  Lake  Mar- 
quette and  a  Lake  La  Salle  on  the  Schoolcraft  or  Yellow  Head  river, 
two  to  three  miles  south  of  the  site  of  Bemidji  Only  one  lake  is  there, 
although  nearly  divided  into  two  by  a  strait,  and  both  parts  are  now 
named  together  as  Lake  Marquette. 

Itasca  State  Park. 

Lake  Itasca,  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
State  Park  inclosing  this  lake  lie  in  Clearwater  county.  Oldest  of  our 
state  parks,  its  place  at  the  source  of  the  greatest  river  of  North  America 
gives  to  it  national  significance  and  value,  geographic,  historic,  and 
educational. 

The  first  expedition  seeking  to  reach  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
was  that  of  General  Lewis  Cass  in  1820,  penetrating  the  northern  forest 
to  Cass  lake,  which  seems  to  have  been  regarded  for  some  years  after- 
ward as  the  principal  source  of  the  river,  A  few  years  later,  in  1823, 
Beltrami  traversed  the  country  between  the  Red  River  valley  and  the 
upper  Mississippi,  crossing  Red  lake  and  entering  the  MississipiM  basin 
above  Cass  lake  by  way  of  the  Turtle  lake  and  river,  which,  from  his 
giving  the  name  Lake  Julia  to  a  little  lake  at  the  water  divide,  are  called 
the  Julian  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  But  another  stream,  somewhat 
larger  than  the  Turtle  river,  was  known  to  come  from  the  west  and 
southwest,  and  in  1832  Schoolcraft,  under  instructions  from  the  govern- 
ment, conducted  an  expedition  up  that  stream,  which  has  ever  since 
been  rightly  considered  the  main  Mississippi,  to  the  lake  at  its  head, 
which  the  Indians  called  Omushkos,  that  is,  Elk  lake.  Schoolcraft 
then  named  it  Itasca,  from  the  Latin  words  Veritas,  truth,  and  caput, 
head,  supplied  to  him  by  Boutwell,  the  name  being  made  by  writing  the 
words  together  and  cutting  off,  like  Procrustes,  the  first  and  last  sylla- 
bles. Four  years  later,  in  1836,  Nicollet  more  fully  explored  this  lake, 
and  claimed  that  its  largest  tributary,  the  creek  or  brook  flowing  into  the 
extrMnity  of  its  southwest  arm,  is  "truly  the  infant  Mississippi." 


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Here  the  question  rested  until  Captain  Willard  Glazier  in  1881,  six 
years  after  the  Government  sectional  survey  of  that  area,  made  his 
expedition  to  Itasca  and  to  the  lake  in  section  22,  T.  143.  R.  36,  called 
by  the  Government  survey  plats  Elk  lake,  lying  close  southeast  of  the 
southwestern  arm  of  Itasca,  and  thence  voyaged  in  a  canoe  to  the 
mouths  of  the  Mississippi.  His  ridiculous  re-naming  of  Elk  lake  for 
himself,  with  assertion  that  it  should  be  regarded  as  the  main  source  of 
this  river,  in  his  subsequently  pubUshed  books  and  maps,  directed  the 
attention  ot  geographers  anew  to  the  determination  of  the  source  of 
the  Great  River. 

Willard  Glazier  was  born  in  Fowler,  N.  Y.,  August  22,  1841 ;  and 
died  in  Albany  N  'V  in  1905  He  served  m  New  'iork  regiments  in 
the  civil  war  atta  ning  the  rank  of  captain  and  published  several  books 
on  the  history  of  the  war  His  biographj  ent  tied  ''word  and  Pen 
by  John  Algernon  Owens  (.written  in  large  part  by  Glazier)  was  pub 
lished  in  1884  516  pages  including  80  pages  on  his  expedition  in  the 
'ummer  and  autumn  of  1881  h\  the  came  route  from  Leech  lake  to 
Lake  Itasca  and  Elk  Idke  and  thence  djwn  the  Miss  sippi  with  a 
map  of  the  Kources  of  this  n\er  His  later  books  on  the  Mississippi 
are  Down  the  Creat  River  1887  443  pages  w  th  tl  e  map  redrawn 
se\  eral  names  on  it  be  ng  changed  and  Head'waters  ot  the  Mississippi 
1893  52?  pages  with  iix  maps  induing  the  narrate e  of  Glaziers 
second  expedition  going  again  m  1891  with  a  large  partj  to  the  head 
of  the  rner  for  re  nforcemert  of  the  claims  that  Lake  Glazier  as 
named  in  1881  is  the  geographic  head  and  chief  source  1 1  this  expedi 
tion  the  ruute  both  i  going  and  return  ng  w  s  b\  the  lagjn  road 
from  Park  Rapids  to  Lake  Itasca 

On  account  of  the  clain  s  of  Glaz  er  and  hi=  friend':  f  r  Elk  lake 
renamed  Lake  Glazier  to  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
Hopewell  Clarke  of  Minneapolis  and  later  of  St  Paul  made  in  October 
1886,  for  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Tajlor  and  Co,  publ  shers,  New  ^ork,  a 
reconnoissance  of  Lake  Itasca  and  its  basin.  His  report,  which  appeared 
in  Science  for  December  24,  ISS6,  fully  sustained  the  work  and  con- 
clusion of  Nicollet,  before  noted. 

The  Minnesota  Historical  Society  next  took  up  an  investigation  of 
the  sources  of  this  river,  and  the  report  of  its  committee,  presented  by 
Gen.  James  H.  Baker  at  a  meeting  on  February  8.  1887,  repudiated 
Glazier's  claims,  and  refused  the  substitution  of  his  name  for  Elk  lake. 
But  a  good  result  from  this  controversy  was  the  great  increase  of 
public  interest  in  the  geography  and  history  of  the  Itasca  region,  which 
brought  within  a  few  years  the  establishment  of  this  State  Park.  In 
October,  1888.  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  began  his  explorations  and  surveys 
of  Lake  Itasca  and  its  environs,  which  continued  through  four  years, 
being  commissioned  in  February.  1889,  to  this  work  by  the  Historical 
Society;  and  he   was  the  chief   factor   in   securing  the   establishment  of 


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128  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

the  Park  by  an  act  of  the  state  legislature,  April  20,  1891,  followed  by 
an  act  of  Congress,  August  3,  1892,  which  granted  to  the  state  for  this 
Park  ail  undisposed  lands  of  the  United  States  within  its  area. 

The  earliest  printed  proposal  for  the  Itasca  Park  was  a  letter  of 
Alfred  J.  Hill,  in  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  March  28,  1889.  Throughout 
the  work  of  Brower  in  examination  and  surveys  of  the  park  area,  Hill 
was  a  colaborer  with  him  concerning  the  history  of  the  early  Spanish 
and  French  explorers  of  the  whole  extent  of  the  Mississippi,  contribut- 
ing much  of  his  excellent  Volume  VH  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society  Collections,  entitled  "The  Mississippi  River  and  its  Source" 
(1893,  pages  xv,  360). 

The  claims  of  Glazier  are  effectually,  cancelled  by  Brower  in  this 
work.  Emile  Levasseur  in  France,  and  N.  H,  WincheB,  state  geologist 
of  Minnesota,  followed  with  papers  indorsing  Brower's  conclusion,  that 
Nicollet's  "infant  Mississippi  ...  a  cradled  Hercules,"  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State  Park,  above  Lake  Itasca,  is  the  veritable,  highest,  and 
farthest  source  of  this  river  (Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections, 
vol.  VIII,  Part  II,  pages  213-231,  published  December  1,  1896). 

Jacob  Vradenberg  Brower,  archaeologist  and  author,  was  horn  in 
York,  Mich.,  January  21,  1844;  and  died  in  St,  Cloud,  Minn,,  June  1, 
1905.  He  came  to  Long  Prairie,  Minn.,  in  1860 ;  served  in  the  First  Minne- 
sota cavalry,  1862-3;  served  in  the  U.  S.  navy,  1864-5;  studied  law  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1873;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature, 
1873 ;  was  register  of  the  U.  S.  land  office  in  St.  Cloud,  1874-9 ;  was  the 
first  commissioner  of  Itasca  Park,  1891-95;  explored  and  mapped  many 
aboriginal  mounds.  He  was  author  of  Volume  VII,  M.  H.  S.  Collec- 
tions, before  cited;  Volume  XI  in  the  same  series,  entitled  "Itasca 
State  Park,  an  Illustrated  History"  (190S,  285  pages)  ;  "Prehistoric 
Man  at  the  Headwater  Basin  of  the  Mississippi"  (1895,  77  pages)  ;  "The 
Missouri  River  and  its  Utmost  Source"  (1896,  150  pages,  and  a  second 
edition,  1897,  206  pages)  ;  Memoirs  of  Explorations  in  the  Basin  of  the 
Mississippi,  a  series  of  eight  quarto  volumes :  I.  Quivira,  1898,  96  pages ; 
II.  Harahey,  1899.  133  pages ;  III.  Mille  Lac,  1900,  140  pages ;  IV.  Kathio, 
1901,  136  pages;  V.  Kakabikansing,  I9CE,  126  pages;  VI.  Minnesota, 
Discovery  of  its  Area,  1903,  127  pages;  VII.  Kansas,  Monumental  Per- 
petuation of  its  Earliest  History,  I54I-I896,  1903,  119  pages;  VIII.  Man- 
dan,  1904,  158  pages.  Biographic  sketches  and  portraits  of  Brower  and 
his  associates  in  archaeology,  Alfred  J.  Hilt  and  Theodore  H,  Lewis, 
are  given  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  in  "The  Aborigines  of  Minnesota," 
1911,  pages  vi-xiv. 

The  people  of  this  state  will  forever  remember  Brower  with  gratitude, 
as  the  founder  of  Itasca  Park,  and  its  defender  and  guardian,  amidst 
many  difficulties  and  discouragements,  through  his  last  years.  His 
heavy  cares  and  efforts  for  truthfulness  of  the  river  history,  and  to 
protect  the  Park  and  Lake  against  ruthless  damage  by  lumbermen,  are 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY 


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Most  o£  the  information  for  this  1 
Volumes  VII  and  XI,  supplemented  ■ 
sources. 

The  Ojibways  call  Itasca  lake  Omushkos,  as  before  noted,  meaning 
Elk  lake,  which  also  is  their  name  of  the  river  thence  to  Lake  Bemidji, 
as  similarly  ttiey  call  it  Bemidji  river  thence  to  Cass  lake.  In  translation 
of  the  Ojibway  name,  the  early  French  fur  traders  called  Itasca  Lac 
La  Biche,  and  Beltrarni  in  like  manner  named  it  "Doe  lake,  west  source 
of  the  Mississippi."  Boutwel!  wrote  in  his  Journal,  1832:  "This  is  a 
small  but  beautiful  body  of  water.  ...  Its  form  is  exceedingly  irregu- 
lar, from  which  the  Indians  gave  it  the  name  of  Elk,  in  reference  to  its 
branching  horns."  (M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  I.)  Brower  wrote  in 
Volume  VII,  page  119:  "The  topographical  formation  of  the  locality  in 
its  physical  features,^ — the  shape  of  an  elk's  head  with  the  horns  represent- 
ing the  east  and  west  arms, — no  doubt  gave  it  the  name  'Elk.'  " 

Gen.  James  H.  Baker,  surveyor  genera!  for  Minnesota,  transferred 
the  name  Elk  lake  on  the  plats  of  the  government  survey,  in  1875-76,  to 
the  lake  at  the  east  side  of  the  Southwest  arm  of  Itasca,  designated  by 
the  Ojibways,  as  noted  by  GilfiUan,  "Pekegumag  sagaiigun,  the  water 
which  juts  off  from  another  water."  The  same  name  was  also  used  by 
the  Ojibways,  and  is  retained  without  translation  by  the  white  people, 
for  a  lake  and  falls  of  the  Mississippi  in  Itasca  county,  and  for  a  lake 
and  Indian  battle-ground  in  Pine  county,  being  for  those  places  com- 
monly spelled  Pokegama. 

This  lake  had  been  visited  by  Julius  Chambers  in  1872,  who  then 
called  it  "Dolly  Varden"  from  the  name  of  his  canoe;  and  in  1881 
Captain  Glazier!;  party  applied  to  it  his  name,  which  he  endeavored 
strenuously  but  unavailingly  to  maintain,  as  related  in  preceding  pages. 
A  short  time  previous  to  Glazier's  visit,  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Gilfillan,  going 


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130  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

there  in  May,  1881,  had  named  it  "Breck  lake,  in  honor  of  the  distmguished 
first  missionary  of  the  American  [Episcopal]  church  to  St  Paul  and 
vicinity,  who  was  afterwards  first  missionary  of  the  church  to  the 
Chippewa  Indians  around  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi."  Although 
worthily  renamed  for  James  Lloyd  Breck  (b.  1818,  d,  1876),  the  name 
Elk  lake  is  yet  more  desirably  retained,  because  it  preserves  in  trans- 
lation the  aboriginal  title  which  was  superseded  by  Schoolcraft's  Itasca. 

The  only  island  of  Itasca  was  named  for  Schoolcraft  by  his  party, 
1832.  The  three  branches  or  arms-of  Itasca  are  called  by  Brower  the 
North,  East,  and  West  arms;  but  the  latter  two  are  also  known  as  the 
Southeast  and  Southwest  arms. 

The  largest  affluent,  Nicollet's  "infant  Mississippi,"  is  mapped  by 
Brower  as  "Mississippi  River"  in  "Nicollet  Valley."  This  stream  is 
also  often  called  Nicollet  creek,  as  by  Winchell,  in  1896,  and  the  map  of 
the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  1900,  Three  lakelets  noted  there 
by  Nicollet,  1836,  are  "Nicollet's  Lower,  Middle,  and  Upper  lakes."  The 
head  stream  flowing  into  the  Upper  lake  rises  from  the  "Mississippi 
Springs,"  above  which,  with  underground  drainage  to  them,  is  Floating 
Moss  lake;  and  close  above,  and  flowing  into  it  from  the  south,  is 
Whipple  lake,  at  ths  head  of  the  visible  surface  drainage.  This  last 
name  was  given  by  Gilfillan  in  1881,  to  honor  Bishop  Henry  B.  Whipple 
(b.  1822,  d.  1901),  renowned  for  his  interest  in  missions  for  both  the 
Ojibways  and  Sioux  of  this  state. 

Southward  from  Whipple  lake,  and  ensconced  in  hollows  among 
the  low  hills  and  ridges  of  the  Itasca  moraine,  are  the  three  little  Triplet 
lakes ;  the  much  larger  Morrison  lake,  named  by  Brower  in  honor  of 
William  Morrison,  the  early  trader  who  was  at  Elk  lake  (since  named 
Itasca)  in  1804;  Little  Elk  lake;  GroseilHers  and  Radisson  lakes,  named 
by  Brower  for  the  first  white  men  in  Minnesota,  whose  travels  here, 
in  1655-56  and  again  in  1660,  are  the  theme  of  a  paper  by  the  present 
writer  (M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  X,  Part  11,  1905,  pages  449-594,  with 
a  map) ;  the  Picard  lakes,  named  for  Anthony  Auguelle,  "called  the 
Pickard  du  Gay,"  a  companion  of  Hennepin,  1680;  Mikenna  lake,  named 
by  Alfred  J.  Hill,  of  imdeterminedi  meaning;  and  the  large  Lake  Her- 
nando de  Soto,  commemorating  the  Spanish  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi, 
1541,  with  its  Brower  island,  named  in  honor  of  J.  V.  Brower  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  These  many  lakes  of  the 
morainic  belt  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  Park,  with  several  smaller 
lakelets  there  remaining  unnamed,  are  believed  to  send  seeping  waters 
northward  to  springs,  rivulets,  and  creeks,  which  are  tributary  to  the 
Mississippi  above  the  West  arm  of  Itasca  and  to  Elk  lake.  For  this 
reason  their  area  is  named  on  Brewer's  maps  as  "the  Greater  Ulti- 
mate Reservoir  Bowl  at  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  river." 

Elk  lake  receives  four  small  streams.  At  the  west  is  Siegfried  creek, 
named  by  Brower  for  A.  H.  Siegfried,  a  representative  of  the  Louis- 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY  131 

ville  Courier- Journal,  who  with  others  made  a  recreational  expedition 
to  Itasca  and  Elk  lakes  in  July,  1879.  Hall  lake,  on  the  upper  part  of 
this  creek,  was  also  named  by  Brower,  in  honor  of  Edwin  S.  Hall,  the 
U.  S.  surveyor  in  1875  for  several  townships  here,  including  the  Park 
area.  Tliese  names  displace  the  E^le  creek  and  Lake  Alice,  names  given 
in  1881  by  Glazier,  the  latter  being  for  his  daughter,  who  ten  years 
afterward,  in  1891,  was  a  member  of  the  second  Glazier  expedition. 

The  three  other  tributaries  of  Elk  lake  are  from  the  south,  namely, 
Elk  creek,  on  the  southwest;  Clarke  creek,  commemorating  Hopewell 
Clarke,  before  mentioned  as  a  surveyor  here  in  1886,  with  its  mouth 
at  the  head  of  Qiambers  bay ;  and  Gay-gued-io-say  creek,  named  for 
Nicollet's  Ojibway  guide  to  Itasca  in  1836.  Clarke  lake  and  Deer  Park 
lake  flow  into  the  last  of  these  creeks  at  stages  of  high  water. 

Qiambers  bay  on  the  south  side  of  Elk  lake,  and  Chambers  creek, 
its  short  outlet  to  Lake  Itasca,  honor  Julius  Chambers,  the  journalist 
and  author,  whose  expedition  here  in  1872,  before  noted,  probably  became 
a  chief  incentive  for  his  publication  of  a  historical  and  descriptive  book 
in  1910,  entitled  "The  Mississippi  River  and  its  Wonderful  Valley"  (308 
pages,  with  80  illustrations  and  maps). 

At  the  south  end  of  the  East  arm  of  Itasca,  Mary  creek  brings  the 
inflow  from  a  series  of  lakes.  The  lowest,  Mary  lake,  is  named  like  the 
creek,  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  Peter  Turnbull,  a  land  surveyor  and  civil 
engineer  from  Canada,  who  opened  the  northern  part  of  the  road  from 
Park  Rapids  to  Itasca  in  1883,  and  resided  during  the  next  two  years  on 
the  east  side  of  its  East  arm.  In  1885  they  removed  to  Park  Rapids, 
where  Mrs.  Turnbull  died  in  May,  1889. 

The  higher  lakes  of  Mary  Valley,  in  their  order  from  north  to  south, 
are  the  small  Twin  lakes ;  Danger  lake,  so  named  by  Mr.  Turnbull  on 
account  of  water  "flooding  the  ice  surface  in  winter  at  its  south  shore," 
renamed  Deming  lake  for  Hon.  Fortius  C.  Deming,  of  Minneapolis,  a 
friend  and  promoter  of  the  interests  of  Itasca  Park,  who  later  was  the 
president  of  the  Minneapolis  Board  of  Park  Commissioners ;  Ako  lake, 
named  for  one  of  Hennepin's  companions,  1680,  whose  name  is  also 
spelled  Accault ;  and  Josephine  lake,  in  honor  of  a  daughter  of  Commis- 
sioner Brower,  who  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  State  Normal  School  at 
St  Qoud,  and  in  the  public  schools  of  Minneapolis.  The  upper  part 
of  Mary  Valley,  holding  these  lakes,  was  called  by  Brower  "the  Lesser 
Ultimate  Resen'oir  Bowl."  This  valley,  excepiting  its  mouth  and  west 
border,  lies,  with  all  its  lakes,  in  the  edge  of  Hubbard  county,  into  which 
the  Itasca  Park  extends  a  mile  along  its  east  side. 

South  and  southwest  of  Josephine  lake,  and  beyond  the  water  divide, 
several  small  lakes  lie  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Park,  mostly  having 
no  surface  outlets  but  tributary  by  underground  seepage  to  the  basin  of 
Crow  Wing  river.  These  include  Sibilant  lake,  named  for  its  form 
resembling  the  letter  S;  Ni-e-ma-da  lake,  of  which  Brower  stated  that 


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132  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

"tiie  name  is  composite  in  form,  not  of  Indian  origin ;"  a  narrow  noryiern 
arm  of  Little  Man  Trap  lake,  so  named,  like  the  larger  Man  Trap  lake  a 
dozen  miles  eastward,  because  many  peninsulas  and  the  tamarack  swamps 
at  the  head  of  its  bays  bafHed  the  hunter,  or  in  former  times  the  "cruiser" 
in  search  for  pine  lands,  when  attempting  to  pass  around  it;  Gilfillan  lake, 
in  honor  of  Rev,  Joseph  A.  Gilfillan  (b.  1838,  d.  1913),  Episcopal  missionary 
to  the  Ojibways  in  northern  Minnesota  during  twenty-five  years;  and 
Frazier  lake,  named  for  a  homesteader  whose  cabin  was  beside  it. 

Other  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Itasca  include  Island  creek,  tributary  to 
the  west  side  of  the  North  arm,  opposite  to  Schoolcraft  jsland ;  French 
creek,  between  Island  creek  and  Hill  point,  named  for  George  H,  French, 
of  the  survey  for  the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  1900;  Boutwell  creek, 
named  for  Rev.  William  Thurston  Boutwell  (b.  1803,  d.  1890),  who  accom- 
panied the  ScKoolcraft  expedition  in  1832;  Sha-wun-uk-u-mig  creek,  com- 
memorating the  Ojibway  guide  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Gilfillan  in  his  visit  to  the 
Itasca  basin  in  1881 ;  and  Floating  Bog  creek,  emptying  into  the  bay  of  this 
name  about  a  half  mile  east  of  the  island. 

Tributaries  from  the  west  to  the  Mississippi  river  above  Lake  Itasca 
are  Demaray  creek,  named  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Georgiana  Demaray,  daughter 
of  William  Morrison,  Spring  Ridge  creek,  and  Howard  creek,  named  for 
Mrs.  Jane  Schoolcraft  Howard,  daughter  of  the  explorer  and  author, 
Henry  Rowe  Schoolcraft. 

Named  points  and  bays  of  the  Itasca  shore,  especially  observed  in 
canoeing,  are  Bear  point,  at  the  west  side  of  Floating  Bog  bay ;  TumbuH 
point,  on  the  west  side  of  the  East  arm,  commemorating  Peter  Tarnbull, 
before  mentioned;  Comber  bay  and  point,  next  on  the  north,  for  W.  G. 
Comber,  assistant  in  the  survey  of  the  Park  area  for  the  Mississippi  River 
Commission,  1900;  O'Nei!  point,  a  little  farther  northwest,  for  Hon.  John 
H.  O'Neil,  of  Park  Rapids ;  Chaney  bay  and  point,  next  south  of  Turnbull 
point,  in  honor  of  Josiah  B.  Chaney  (b.  1828,  d.  1908),  newspaper  librarian 
of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  who  visited  the  Itasca  Park  in  190! 
and  1903;  Ray's  bay  and  point,  nearly  a  half  mile  farther  south,  for  Fred 
G.  Ray,  of  the  Mississippi  River  Commission  survey,  1900 ;  Ozawindib  or 
Yellow  Head  point,  at  the  entrance  to  the  West  arm,  for  the  Ojibway 
guide  of  Schoolcraft's  party  in  1832;  Tamarack  point,  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
southwest  from  the  last ;  Garrison  point,  oa  the  west  side  of  the  West  arm, 
commemorating  Oscar  E.  Garrison  (b.  1825,  d.  1886),  who  examined  the 
Lake  Itasca  region  and  the  river  below  in  1880,  for  the  Forestry  Depart- 
ment of  the  United  States  Census ;  and  Hill  point,  on  the  west  side  of  the  ■ 
North  arm,  named  in  honor  of  Alfred  J.  Hill  (b.  1823,  d.  1895) ,  the  archae- 
ologist, who,  as  before  noted,  was  the  first  to  propose  the  establishment 
of  this  State  Park. 

Several  additional  names  of  Jakes  are  to  be  noted :  Bohall  lake,  for 
Henry  Bohall,  an  assistant  with  Brower  in  1889 ;  Hays  lake,  for  an  assistant 
in  1891 ;  Kirk  lake,  for  Thomas  H.  Kirk,  author  of  an  "Illustrated  History 


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CLEARWATER  COUNTY  133 

of  Minnesota"  (1887,  244  pages),  who  visited  Itasca  and  Elk  lakes  in 
188?;  Lyendecker  lake,  for  a  comrade  of  Brower  in  his  first  visit  to  Itasca, 
1888;  Allen  lake,  for  Lieut.  James  Allen  {b.  1806,  d.  !846),  who  accom- 
panied  Schoolcraft's  expedition  in  1832,  and  whose  very  interesting  report 
of  it  was  published  twenty-eight  years  afterward  in  the  American  State 
Papers  (vol.  V,  Military  Affairs,  1860,  pages  313-344,  with  a  map)  ;  Budd 
lake,  "after  an  Ohio  family  name;"  McKay  lake,  for  Rev.  Stanley  A, 
McKay,  of  Owatonna,  Minn.,  "who  in  the  month  of  June,  1891,  celebrated 
the  ceremonies  of  baptism  at  Ifasca  lake ;"  Green  Jake,  dose  west  of  Chaney 
bay;  Iron  Corner  lake,  near  the  iron  post  that  marks  the  northeast  corner 
of  Becker  county;  and  Augusta,  Powder  Horn,  and  Musquash  lakes, 
named  by  the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  1900,  adJMning  the  southwest 
side  of  Morrison  lake.  The  last  of  these  lakes,  Musqnash,  has  the  Algon- 
quian  name  of  the  muskrat,  a  fur-bearer  whose  houses  dot  many  of  our 
shallow  lakes. 

Crescent  springs.  Elk  springs,  Nicollet  springs,  the  Mississippi  springs, 
and  Ocano  springs,  the  last  bearing  a  name  "found  in  Schoolcraft's  Nar- 
rative," are  shown  on  Brower's  maps  of  the  Park. 

Rhodes  hill  was  named  for  for  D.  C.  Rhodes,  of  Verndale,  Minn., 
photographer  of  the  Brower  survey ;  Morrison  hill,  like  Morrison  lake, 
for  the  first  recorded  white  visitor  at  Itasca;  Morrow  Heights,  in  honor 
of  A,  T-  Morrow,  director  of  the  survey  of  the  Itasca  basin  for  the 
Mississippi  River  Commission,  1900 ;  Ockerson  Heights,  for  J.  A.  Ockerson, 
also  a  surveyor  for  that  Commission  ;  Alton  Heights,  after  Prof,  George 
B.  Alton,  of  Minneapolis  and  later  of  Grand  Rapids,  who  made  botanic 
examinations  of  the  Park  in  1891 ;  and  Comber  island  in  Morrison  lake, 
for  W.  G.  Comber,  who  has  thus  threefold  honors,  of  this  island  and 
of  a  point  and  a  bay  on  the  Itasca  shore. 

The  Lind  Saddle  Trail  was  named  in  honor  of  Governor  John  Lind, 
who  visited  Itasca  in  1899,  then  ordering  this  trail  to  be  cut  through  the 
woods,  as  his  personal  donation  for  the  improvement  of  the  Park. 

Close  north  of  the  Park  limits,  Division  creek  (also  called  Sucker 
creek)  flows  info  the  Mississippi  from  the  heights  on  the  west,  "which 
divide  the  waters  flowing  to  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

■McMuIIen  lake  (formerly  known  as  Squaw  lake),  close  outside  the 
Park  at  the  northwest,  was  named  by  Brower  in  honor  of  William 
McMullen,  the  first  permanent  settler  at  Itasca  lake,  in  1889,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  North  arm.  The  former  name  is  from  the  Algonquian  word 
meaning  a  woman,  anglicized  as  "squaw,"  used  commonly  among  the 
Ojibways  as  the  ending,  qua,  of  feminine  names,  like  the  final  syllable, 
win,  of  the  same  use  among  the  Sioux. 

Kakabikans  rapids,  noted  by  Schoolcraft  in  1855  as  a  name  from  the 
the  Ojibway  language,  meaning  Little  falls  or  rapids,  are  formed  by  very 
abundant  glacial  boulders  in  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi  a  few  miles 
below  Itasca  lake. 


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134  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Several  names  which  had  their  origia  from  the  expedition  of  Glazier 
in  1881  are  retained  by  popular  use  in  Hubbard  county,  but  only  one  has 
been  so  retained  within  the  limits  of  tlie  Itasca  Park,  this  being  La  Salle 
river,  in  the  northeast  corner,  named,  with  the  lakes  on  its  course  to 
the  north,  in  honor  of  the  renowned  early  French  explorer.  It  was 
called  Andrus  creek  by  Brower  in  1892,  "after  the  treasurer  of  the  Min- 
nesota Game  and  Fish  Commission."  Schoolcraft  in  1S32  bad  mapped  it 
as  "Cano  R."  and  on  the  map  of  his  "Summary  Narrative,"  published 
in  1855,  it  was  caUed  "De  Witt  Clinton's  R.,"  but  in  the  text  it  is  named 
"Chemaun  or  Ocano."  The  former  word,  Chemaun,  is  Ojibway  for  B 
birch  canoe,  as  used  in  Longfellow's  "Song  of  Hiawatha;"  and  the  latter 
word,  Ocano,  is  from  the  French  "aux  canots,"  that  is,  at  or  of  canoes, 
which  was  the  ancient  and  original  form  that  became  anglicized  into  the 
name  of  Cannon  river,  in  southeastern  Minnesota. 

A  glacial  lake  was  held  temporarily  in  the  Itasca,  basin  by  the  barrier 
of  the  departing  ice-sheet  at  the  end  of  the  Ice  Age,  with  an  area  "several 
times  tile  present  size  of  Itasca  lake,"  named  by  Brower  in  Volume  XI, 
Winchel!  lake,  in  honor  of  Prof,  N.  H.  Winchell.  This  may  be  preferably 
called  Glacial  Lake  WincheU,  to  distinguish  it  from  Winchell  lake  in 
Cook  Cfunty. 

Newton  Horace  Winchell  was  born  in  Northeast,  Dutchess  county, 
N.  Y.,  December  17,  1839;  and  died  in  Minneapolis,  May  2,  1914,  Com- 
ing to  Minnesota  in  1872,  and  residing  in  Minneapolis,  he  was  state 
geologist  twenty-eight  years,  18?2-I900;  was  editor  of  the  American 
Geologist,  1888-1905 ;  and  was  the  archaeologist  of  the  Minnesota  His- 
torical Society,  1906-14.  His  contribution  to  the  Itasca  Park  literature, 
entitled  "The  Source  of  the  Mississippi,"  is  in  the  M.  H.  S.  Volume  VIH 
(pages  226-231)  ;  a  biographic  memorial  of  Him,  in  Volume  XV  (pages 
824-830,  with  a  portrait)  ;  and  a  more  fullmemorial.  In  the  Bulletin  of 
the   Minnesota  Academy  of  Science   (Volume  V,  pages  73-116). 

Like  the  majestic  progress  of  an  epic  poem  or  a  grand  drama,  the 
history  of  the  gradual  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  river  runs  through 
four  centuries.  Begun  when  Amerigo  Vespucci  in  1498  mapped  the  delta 
and  mouths  of  this  mighty  stream,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  it  continued  till  Brower  in  1889-92  mapped  the  shores  and  islands 
of  Lake  Hernando  de  Soto,  in  the  south  edge  of  Itasca  Park.  The 
moving  picture  of  this  history  is  portrayed  in  words  and  in  maps  by  the 
volumes  of  the  M.  H.  S.  Collections.  In  the  nomenclature  of  the  Park 
a  good  number  of  the  great  explorers  of  the  river  are  recalled,  De  Soto, 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  La  Salle,  Schoolcraft,  Nicollet.  The  vain 
endeavors  of  Glazier  to  link  his  name  with  those  heroes  aroused  the  just 
indignation  of  geographers  and  the  officers  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society.  During  a  decade  or  longer  a  great  strife  raged  concerning  the 
true  head  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  rightful  name  of  Elk  lake.  In  190S 
Glazier  and  Brower,  chief  opponents  in  the  strife,  died;  but  the  Itasca 
State  Park,  which  grew  from  it,   "shall  live  forever." 


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COOK  COUNTY 


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It  may  well  be  hoped  that  some  county,  yet  to  be  formed  adjoinmg  the 
north  line  of  Minnesota,  will  receive  the  name  Verendrye,  in  historic 
commemoration  of  the  explorations,  hardships,  and  sacrifices  of  this 
patriotic  and  trufy  noble  French  explorer.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
fur  trade  in  northern  Minnesota,  in  Manitoba,  and  the  Saskatchewan 
region,  where  it  greatly  flourished  during  the  next  hundred  years ;  and 
two  of  his  sons  were  the  first  white  men  to  see  the  Rocky  mountains, 
or  at  least  some  eastern  range  or  outpost  group  of  the  great  Cordilleran 
mountain  belt. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  of  geographic  names  in  Cook  county 
was  gathered  during  my  visit  in  August,  1916,  at  Grand  Marais,  the 
county  seat,  from  Thomas  I.  Carter,  the  county  auditor ;  Axel  E.  Berg- 
lund,  county  surveyor;  George  Leng,  clerk  of  the  court;  William  J. 
Clinch,  superintendent  of  schools ;  and  John  Drourillard  and  George 
Mayhew,  of  Grand  Marais. 

Each  of  the  organized  townships  in  this  county  comprises  several 
government  survey  townships ;  and  Grand  Marais  and  Rosebush  are  very 
irregular  in  their  outlines,  stretching  from  areas  adjoining  Lake  Superior 
to  areas  on  the  international  boundary,  with  narrow  strips  connecting 
their  southern  and  northern  parts. 

CoLviLLE  township,  organized  in  1906,  was  named  in  honor  of  Colonel 
William  Colvil!,  to  whose  name  a  silent  *  is  added  for  the  township.  He  was 


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136  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

born  in  ForesWille,  N.  Y„  April  5,  1830;  and  died  in  Minneapolis,  June 
12,  1905.  He  came  to  Red  Wing,  Mina,  in  1854,  and  the  next  year 
established  the  Red  Wing  Sentinel,  a  Democratic  newspaper.  He  served 
as  captain  and  colonel  of  the  First  Minnesota  regiment,  1861-4;  was 
colonel  of  the  First  Minnesota  Heavy  Artillery,  1865,  and.  was  brevetted 
brigadier  general.  He  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  1S6S, 
and  again  in  1878;  and  was  attorney  general  of  the  state,  1866-8.  In  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  1863,  he  led  his  regiment  in  a  famous  charge,  one 
of  the  noblest  sacrifices  to  duty  in  all  the  annals  of  warfare.  In  his 
later  years.  Colonel  Colvill  homesteaded  a  claim  op  the  Lake  Superior 
shore  in  this  township  (section  9,  T.  61,  R.  2  E.),  but  his  iiome  previously, 
and  also  afterward,  was  near  Red  Wing,  In  1909  his  statue  in  bronze 
was  placed  in  the  rotunda  of  the  state  ct^itol. 

Gkand  Marais  townshq)  received  this  French  name,  meaning  a  great 
marsh,  in  the  early  fur-trading  times,  referring  to  a  marsh,  twenty  acres 
or  less  in  area,  nearly  at  the  level  of  Lake  Superior,  situated  at  the  head 
of  the  little  bay  and  harbor  whicli  letd  to  the  settlement  of  the  village 
there.  Another  small  bay  on  the  east,  less  protected  from  storms  is 
separated  from  the  harbor  by  a  slight  projecting  point  and  a  short  beach. 
In  allusion  to  the  two  bays,  the  Ojibways  name  the  bay  of  Grand  Marais 
as  "Kitchi-bitobig,  the  great  duplicate  water ;  a  parallel  or  double  body 
of  water  like  a  bayou"  (Gilfillan). 

Grand  Portage,  a  village  and  formerly  a  very  important  trading 
place,  at  the  head  of  the  bay  of  this  name,  and  at  the  southeast  end  of 
the  Grand  portage,  nine  miles  long,  to  the  Pigeon  river  above  its  principal 
falls,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  most  eastern  and  oldest  settlement 
of  white  men  in  the  area  of  Minnesota.  Probably  during  the  period  of 
Verendrye's  explorations,  this  place  became  the  chief  point  for  landing 
goods  from  the  large  canoes  used  in  the  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  for  their  being  dispatched  onward,  from  the  end  of  this  long  portage, 
in  smaller  canoes  to  the  many  trading  posts  of  all  the  rich  fur  country 
northwest  of  Lake  Superior.  In  1?67,  when  Carver  went  there  in  the 
hope  of  purchasing  goods,  Grand  Portage  was  an  important  rendezvous 
and  trading  post.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  as  Gen.  James 
H.  Baker  has  well  said,  it  was  the  "commercial  emporium"  of  the  north- 
western fur  trade. 

Fort  Charlotte  was  the  name  of  the  trading  post  and  station  of  the 
Northwest  Fur  Company  at  the  western  end  of  the  portage,  on  the  Pigeon 

HovLAND,  the  oldest  organized  township  of  this  county,  is  in  compli- 
ment to  a  pioneer  settler  named  Brunas,  for  his  native  place  in  Norway. 

LOTSEN  township  was  named  by  its  most  prominent  citizen,  Carl  A.  A. 
Nelson,  for  a  town  in  Prussian  Saxony,  made  memorable  by  the  battle 
there,  1632,  in  which  the  renowned  Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden, 
lost  his  life. 


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COOK  COUNTY  137 

Maple  Hill  tCFwnship  lias  extensive  sugar  maple  woods,  on  the  high- 
land five  to  ten  miles  back  from  Lake  Superior. 

Rosebush  township,  organized  in  1907,  took  its^^name  from  Rose  Bush 
river,  as  it  is  popularly  known,  in  translation  of  its  Ojibway  name. 
Oginekan,  though  called  "Fall  river"  on  maps,  in  the  east  edge  of  T.  61, 
R.  1  W.  The  creek  a  mile  farther  west,  mapped  as  "Rose  Bush  river," 
has  no  recognized  name  among  the  settlers. 

ScHROEDER  township  and  village  are  in  honor  of  John  Schroeder,  presi- 
dent of  a  lumber  company  having  offices  in  Ashland  and  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  for  whom  pine  logs  have  been  cut  and  rafted  away  from  the  neigh- 
boring Temperance,  Cross,  and  Two  Island  rivers. 

ToFTE,  likewise  the  name  of  a  township  and  village,  founded  ia  1898, 
is  in  honor  of  settlers  havii^  this  surname,  derived  from  their  former 
home  in  the  district  of  Bergen,  Norway. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

Gilfillan,  in  his  list  of  "Minnesota  Geographical  Names  derived  from 
the  Chippewa  language,"  wrote:  "Pigeon  river  is  Omimi-zibi,  Omiini 
meaning  pigeon,  and  zibi  ....  river."  The  accent  of  Omimi  is  on  the 
second  syllable,  and  i  has  the  sound  of  the  English  long  e.  "The  Song 
of  Hiawatha"  correctly   anglicizes  it, 

"Cooed  the  pigeon,  the  Omemee." 
Until  18?0  or  later,  the  passenger  pigeon  was  common  or  abundant 
throughout  Minnesota,  coming  early  in  April,  breeding  here,  and  returning 
southward  in  October  and  November.  During  the  next  thirty  years  they 
became  scarce,  and  about  the  year  1900  they  perished  utterly  from  all 
that  great  region,  eastern  North  America,  where  from  time  immemorial 
they  had  been  very  abundant.  The  species,  once  represented  by  countless 
millions,  undoubtedly  is  extinct 

This  river,  which  is  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  was  delineated  on  "the  oldest  map  of  the  region  west  of  Lake 
Superior,  ....  traced  by  a  chief  of  the  Assiniboines,  named  Ochagach, 
for  Verendrye,  in  1730,"  which  is  published  in  the  Final  Report  of  the 
Geology  of  Minnesota  (vol.  I,  I8S4,  pages  18,  19).  A  series  of  twelve 
lakes  is  shown  by  this  map  on  the  canoe  route  from  the  mouth  of  Pigeon 
river  to  "Lac  Sesakinaga"  (Saganaga),  the  fourth  and  eighth  being 
named  respectively  "Lac  Long"  and  "Lac  Plat."  Hence  came  the  name 
"Long  lake,"  given  to  the  lower  part  of  Pigeon  river  on  the  map  of  John 
Mitchell,  1755,  which  was  used  by  the  British  and  American  commis- 
sioners in  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  1783,  providing  that  the  international 
boundary  should  run  "through  the  middle  of  the  said  Long  lake  and  the 
water  communication  between  it  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  to  the  said 
Lake  of  the  Woods;  thence  through  the  said  lake  to  the  most  north- 
western point  thereof,"  (M,  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  XV.  19!5,  pages  379- 
392,  with  map.) 


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138  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

In  1?75  this  stream  was  called  "the  river  Aux  Groseilles,"  that  is, 
Gooseberry  river,  by  the  older  Alexander  Henry. 

Pigeon  Falls,  70  feet  high,  on  the  Pigeon  river  about  two  miles 
from  its  raouth,  are  pictured  in  the  "Geology  of  Minnesota"  (vol.  IV, 
1899,  pJate  PP,  also  page  509).  About  a  mile  up  from  these  falls,  the 
river  has  a  sharp   angle  in  its  course,   pointing   northward,  called  "The 

la  Split  Rock  Canyon,  noted  on  the  map  of  Cook  county  by  Jewett 
and  Son,  1911,  about  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  below  (northeast  from) 
the  western  end  of  the  Grand  Portage  road.  Pigeon  river  has  "Falls, 
144  feet."  These  falls  were  called  "the  Great  Cascades'"  by  Norwood  in 
1852,  who  stated,  in  his  report  for  the  Owen  Geological  Survey,  that 
the  river  there  descends  144  feet  in  a  distance  of  400  yards,  through  a 
narrow  gorge  formed  by  perpendictilar  walls  of  rock,  varying  from  40 
to  120  feet  in  height. 

Partridge  falls,  an  upper  fall  30  feet  high,  and  a  lower  fall,  very  close 
■  below,  falling  10  feet,  are  on  this  river  about  two  miles  westward,  by  the 
zigzag  course  of  the  stream,  from  the  end  of  the  Grand  portage.  The 
height  of  these  falls  was  exaggerated  by  Mackenzie,  in  his  "Voyages 
from  Montreal,"  published  in  180!,  to  be  120  feet,  probably  confounding 
the  Partridge  falls  with  the  much  higher  falls  last  mentioned.  Dr. 
Alexander  Winchell  in  1887  called  these  falls  "the  Minnehaha  of  the 
boundary." 

Fowl  portage,  and  the  South  and  North  Fowl  lakes,  lowest  in  the 
series  of  lakes  on  the  Pigeon  river,  are  translated  from  thdr  early  French 
name,  Outarde  (a  bustard,  here  in  the  usage  of  the  voyageurs  applied  to 
the  Canadian  goose,  Branta  canadensis,  our  most  common  wild  species), 
which  was  probably  a  translation  from  the  aboriginal  Ojibway  name. 
More  definitely,  therefore,  these  would  be  Goose  portage  and  lakes. 

Next  are  Moose  portage  and  Moose  lake,  which  Mackenzie  called 
Elk  portage  and  lake,  but  which  Thompson  mapped,  on  the  survey  for 
the  international  boundary,  1826,  as  "Moose  lake,  d'Original."  Both 
the  English  and  French  names  came  from  the  Ojibway,  "Mozo  sagaiigun" 
(Gilfillan), 

Big  Cherry  portage,  named  for  the  wild  cherries  growing  there,  the 
Lower  and  Upper  Lily  lakes,  "where  there  is  plenty  of  water  lilies,"  and 
the  Little  Cherry  portage,  translated  from  the  French  names  used  by 
Mackenzie,  lead  to  Mountain  lake,  called  Hj(l  lake  by  Norwood,  trans- 
lated from  its  Ojibway  name,  given  by  Gilfilian  as  "Gatchigudjiwegumag 
sagaiigun,  the  lake  lying  close  by  the  mountain."  This  refers  to  Moose 
mountain,  shown  on  the  Jewett  map,  at  the  south  side  of  the  east  end 
of  this  lake. 

"The  small  new  portage"  of  Mackenzi*,  next  west  of  Mountain  lake, 
was  called  Watap  portage  by  Thompson,  on  account  of  the  growth  of 
jack  pines,  which  also  are  referred  to  in  the  names  of  Watab  river  and 
township  (previously  noted  in  the  chapter  for  Benton  coun^). 


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COOK  COUNTY  139 

Rove  lake,  called  Watab  lake  by  Norwood  and  by  Dr.  Coues,  through 
which  the  canoes  next  passed,  was  called  by  Mackenzie  "a  narrow  line 
of  water,"  and  it  was  so  mapped  later  by  Thompson,  very  narrow  and 
somewhat  crooked,  whence  probahly  came  the  name,  to  rove  or  wan- 
der; but  it  is  erroneously  mapped  as  a  rather  broad  lake  in  "Geology 
of  Minnesota"  (vol.  IV.  plates  69  and  83),  which  error  is  retained  on 
the  maps  of  Cook  county  in  our  latest  atlas.  The  Ojibway  name  of 
this  lake  means  "the  lake  lying  in  the  burnt  wood  country." 

A  very  rugged  and  difficult  portage,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length, 
called  by  Mackenzie  "the  new  Grande  Portage"  (on  the  Geol.  Survey 
map,  "Great  New  Portage"),  leads  to  Rose  or  Mud  lake,  which  out- 
flows eastward  into  Arrow  lake  and  river  in  Canada,  being  thus  tribu- 
tary to  the  Pigeon  river.  In  the  language  of  the  Ojibways,  "Rose  lake 
is  Ga-bagwadjiskiwagag  sagaiigun.  or  the  shallow  lake  with  mud  bottom." 
From  Rose  lake  westward  two  short  portages,  named  Marten  and 
Perch  portages,  with  an  intervening  "mud  pond  covered  with  white 
lilies."  as  noted  by  Mackenzie.  lead  to  South  lake,  as  it  was  named  by 
Thompson,  where,  wrote  Mackenzie,  "the  waters  of  the  Dove  or  Pigeon 
river  terminate,  and  which  is  one  of  the  sources  of  the  great  St.  Law- 
rence in  this  direction." 

North  lake,  the  first  in  the  series  flowing  west  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  was  so  named  by  Thompson,  his  South  and  North  lakes  having 
that  relationship  to  the  portage  across  the  continental  water  divide. 
Mackenzie  called  North  lake  "the  lake  of  Hauteur  de  Terre"  (Height 
of  Land),  and  by  Norwood  is  was  named  "Mountain  lake." 

Thence  the  canoes  went  down  the  outflowing  stream  into  Gunflint 
lake,  named  from  flint  or  chert  obtained  in  its  rocks,  also  occurring 
abundantly  as  pebbles  of  its  beaches,  sometimes  used  for  the  flintlock 
guns  which  long  preceded  the  invention  of  percussion  caps.  The  English 
name  is  translated  from  the  earlier  Ojibway  and  French  names. 

Northward  in  a  distance  of  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  Gunflint 
lake  to  Saganaga  falls  and  lake,  the  international  boundary  has  Mag- 
netic lake,  Pine  or  Clove  lake.  Granite  bay,  Gneiss  lake,  and  Maraboeuf 
lake,  with  intervening  stretches  of  the  stream,  broken  by  frequent  rapids 
and  low  falls,  past  which  portages  were  made.  The  varying  characters 
of  the  outcropping  rocks  supply  a  majority  of  these  lake  names.  The 
most  northern  is  a  Canadian  French  name,  used  by  Mackenzie,  1801,  and 
on  the  latest  maps  of  Cook  county.  1911  and  1916,  apparently  for  "marsh 
deer  or  buffalo"  if  it  were  anglicized ;  but  this  name,  Maraboeuf,  is  not 
found  in  dictionaries.  Thompson  in  1826  mapped  it.  with  no  name,  as  a 
narrow  and  quite  irregularly  branched  lake,  nearly  four  miles  long  from 
south  to  north,  its  jagged  eastern  shoreline  in  Canada  being  wholly 
unlike  its  representation  in  our  Cook  county  maps. 

Maraboeuf  lake  was  called  Banks'  Pine  lake  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Win- 
chell   in   1880    (Ninth   Annual   Report,   page   84),   for   Its   forest   of  jack 


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140  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

pine  (Pinus  Banksiana) ;  but  in  the  later  reports  of  the  Minnesota 
Geological  Survey  it  is  mapped  as  Granite  lake,  for  its  lying  within  the 
area  of  Saganaga  granite. 

Mackenzie  wrote  that  Lake  Saganaga  "takes  its  name  from  its 
numerous  islands."  Thompson  mapped  it  as  "Kaseiganagah  lake."  Gilfil- 
lan  wrote,  "Saganaga  lake  is  Ga-sasuganagag  sagaiigun,  the  lake  sur- 
rounded by  thick  forests."  (The  pronunciation  places  the  principal  accent 
on  the  first  syllable,  and  a  secondary  accent  on  the  last.) 

Winchell,  from  information  given  by  the  Ojibways,  wrote  in  the 
report  before  cited :  "The  word  Saganaga  signifies  islands,  or  many 
islands,  and  seems  to  be  the  plural  of  Saginaw."  Verwyst,  however, 
defines  Saginaw  in  Michigan  (the  river,  bay,  city,  and  county),  as  from 
an  Ojibway  word,  "Saging  or  Saginang,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river."  Accord- 
ing to  Gannett,  Saginaw  means  "Sank  place,"  referring  to  the  Sauk  or 
Sac  Indians.  The  Michigan  name  and  our  Saganaga,  therefore,  are 
probably  not  alike  in   their  origin   and  meaning. 

Three  miles  from  Grand  Portage  village  and  bay,  the  Grand  Portage 
road  crosses  Poplar  river,  tributary  to  Pigeon  river. 

Dutchman  lake  lies  two  miles  west  of  Grand'  Portage,  and  Teal 
lake  is  two  miles  northeast  of  that  village. 

"Mesqua-tawangewi  zibi,  or  Red  Sand  river,"  as  it  was  called  by 
GilfiUan,  and  a  lake  of  the  same  name,  form  the  greater  part  of  the  west 
boundary  of  the  Pigeon  River  Indian  Reservation.  This  stream  is  also 
called  Reservation  river,  and  the  lake  is  named  Swamp  lake  on  the 
latest  maps,  1911  and  1916.  In  the  treaty  of  September  30,  1854,  which 
established  the  reservation,  this  stream  is  mentioned  as  "called  by  the 
Indians  Maw-ske-gwaw-caw-maw-se-be,  or  Cranberry  Marsh  river." 

Tom  lake,  near  the  center  of  T.  63,  R.  3  E.,  is  at  the  head  of  Kamesh- 
keg  river,  meaning  Swamp  river,  which  flows  north  to  Pigeon  river. 

Devil  Fish  and  Otter  lakes  outflow  by  the  next  tributary  of  Pigeon 
river,  called  Portage  brook,  and  a  mile  farther  northwest  it  receives 
Stump  river.  Greenwood  lake,  west  of  the  Devil  Fish,  flows  south  to 
Brule    river. 

West  of  the  Fowl  lakes,  the  northern  tiers  of  townships  in  this  county 
have  a  multitude  of  lakes,  mostly  narrow  and  much  elongated  from 
east  to  west,  lying  in  eroded  hollows  of  the  bedrocks.  These  include 
Royal  lake,  John  lake,  McFarland  lake,  the  East  and  West  Pike  lakes, 
Pine  lake.  Long  lake,  and  Lakes  Fanny  and  Marinda;  Crocodile,  East 
Bear  Skin,  Caribou,  and  Clearwater  lakes,  in  Ts.  64  and  65,  R.  1  E.,  lying 
south  of  Rove  lake;  Morgan  lake,  Misquah  (Red)  lake.  Cross,  Horse- 
shoe, and  Swamp  lakes  \spen  and  Flour  lakes.  Hungry  Jack  lake, 
Leo  lake,  Poplar  lake  tributary  by  Poplar  river  to  the  North  branch 
of  Brul£  river,  Daniels  lake  Birch  or  West  Bear  Skin  lake,  Duncan's, 
Moss,  and  Partridge  lakes  m  Ts.  64  and  65,  R.  1  W.,  lying  south  of 
Rose  lake;   Winchell   lake    Gaskan  and   Johnson  lakes,    Henson   lake. 


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COOK  COUNTY  141 

Pittsburg  lake,  Stray  lake,  another  Caribou  lake,  Meeds  lake.  Moon 
lake,  Rush,  Luin,  and  Portage  lakes,  No  Name  or  Birch  lake,  Dunn 
!ake,  Iron  and  Mayhew  lakes.  Pope  lake.  Crab  lake,  and  Lakes  Emma 
and  Louise,  in  Ts.  64  and  65,  R.  2  W.,  lying  south  of  the  South  and 
North  lakes;  Kiskadinna  or  Colby  lake,  Nebogigig  or  Onega  lake, 
Davis  lake.  Trap  and  Clifi  lakes,  Ida,  Jay,  and  Ash  lakes,  Long  Island 
lake,  Finn  lake,  Banadad  or  Banner  lake,  Ross,  George,  and  Karl 
lakes.  Tucker  lake  and  river,  and  Loon  lake,  in  Ts.  64  and  65,  R,  3  W., 
being  south  of  Gunflint  lake;  Frost,  Irish,  Don,  Tuscarora,  Snipe,  arid 
Copper  lakes,  in  T.  64,  R,  4  W.,  and  Ham,  Round  or  Bear,  Brant  or 
Charley,  Cloud,  Dingoshick,  Akeley,  Chub,  Arc,  and  Larch  lakes,  in  T, 
65,  R.  4  W.,  south  of  Maraboeuf  lake;  Hub  or  Mesabi,  East  and  West, 
Crooked  or  Greenwood  Island,  BulHs  or  Gill's,  Little  Saganaga,  Rattle, 
and  Fern  lakes,  in  T.  64,  R.  5  W.,  and  Gabiraichigama,  Howard,  Peter 
or  Qothespin,  French  or  Kakigo,  Bat  or  Muscovado  lakes,  Fay  or  Paul- 
son lake  and  Chub  river  outflowing  from  it,  Jap  lake,  Ray,  Jasper  or 
Frog  Rock,  Alpine  or  West  Sea  Gull,  and  Red  Rock  lakes,  and  the  large 
and  very  irregularly  outlined  Sea  Gull  lake,  with  many  islands,  the 
largest  being  named  Cucumber  island,  in  T.  65,  R.  5  W.,  south  of  Lake 
Saganaga. 

Many  of  the  names  of  lakes  in  this  list  are  of  obvious  derivations,  as 
from  the  fish  in  them,  the  animals  and  birds  and  trees  adjoining  them, 
or  from  their  outlines,  as  long,  round,  crooked,  or  having  the  form  of 
a  horseshoe,  the  crescent  moon,  or  an  arc. 

The  origins  of  only  a  few  of  the  personal  names  borne  by  others  of 
these  lakes,  as  next  noted,  have  been  ascertained  by  the  present. writer. 

Hungry  Jack  lake  refers  to  an  assistant  on  the  government  surveys, 
Andrew  Jackson  Scott,  a  veteran  of  the  civil  war,  who  for  some  time 
at  this  lake  was  reduced  to  very  scanty  food  supplies. 

Winchell  lake  was  named  for  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  state  geologist, 
who  is  also  honored  by  the  Glacial  Lake  Winchell  in  the  Itasca  State 
Park. 

Meeds  lake  was  named  in  honor  of  Alonzo  D.  Meeds,  of  Minne- 
apolis, who  was  an  assistant  in  the  Minnesota  Geological   Survey, 

Mayhew  lake  is  for  the  late  Henry  Mayhew,  of  Grand  Marais,  who 
aided  for  this  survey  in  Cook  county. 

Charley  lake  and  Bashitanequeb  lake,  the  latter  renamed  on  recent 
maps  as  BuUis  or  Gill's  lake,  are  for  an  Ojibway,  "Bashitanequeb 
(Charley  Sucker),  Indian  guide,  cook,  and  canoeman,"  in  this  survey 
{"Geology  of  Minnesota,"  Final  Report,  vol.  IV,  1899,  page  522,  with 
his  portrait), 

Howard  lake  was  named  for  one  of  the  Howard  brothers,  mining 
prospectors,  of  Duluth,  and  Paulson  lake  for  the  owner  of  iron  mines 
near  it,  on  the  Port  Arthur,  Duluth  and  Western  railroad,  a  branch  of 
the  Canadian  Northern  railway. 


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142  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

GilfiUan  recorded  the  following  Ojibway  names  for  several  oi  these 
lakes,  which  have  been  translated  to  their  present  names  used  by  the 
white  people. 

"Pine  lake,  Shingwako  sagaiigim  .  .  .  Shingwak  h  a  pine ;  o,  a  con- 
nective vowel;  sagaiigun,  lake." 

"Near  Rove  lake  is  Ga-wakomitigweiag  sagaiigun,  or  Clearwater  lake." 

''Iron  lake  is  Biwabiko  sagaiigun,"  the  same  with  the  town  of  Biwabik 
on  the  Mesabi  iron  range  in  St.  Louis  county. 

"Ushkakweagumag  sagaiigun,  or  Greenwood  lake."  has  been  some- 
times called  East  Greenwood  lake,  to  distinguish  it  from  another  of 
this  name  in  Lake  county. 

"Muko-waiani  sagaiigun,  or  Bear-skin  lake," 

Baraga's  Dictionary  has  "Kishkadina  .  ,  .  there  is  a  very  steep  hill, 
very  steep  ascent."  This  name,  with  slight  change  of  spelling,  is  applied 
on  recent  maps  to  a  lake  that  was  not  named  bj-  the  maps  of  the  Minne- 
sota Geological  Survey;  and  the  lake  called  Kiskadinna  by  that  survey  is 
now  Long  Island  lake. 

The  two  Caribou  lakes  have  the  Canadian  French  name  of  the  Ameri- 
can reindeer,  changed  from  kalibu  of  the  Micmac  Indians,  meaning 
"  'pawer  or  scratcher,'  the  animal  being  so  called  from  its  habit  of  shovel- 
ing the  snow  with  its  forelegs  to  find  the  food  covered  by  snow,"  The 
reindeer  was  formerly  common  in  the  north  half  of  Minnesota. 

Flour  lake,  which  received  its  name  on  account  of  a  cache  of  flour 
placed  there  during  the  government  surve5^,  is  erroneously  spelled 
Flower  on  recent  published  maps.  The  Ojibways  call  this  lake  Pakwe- 
jigan  (Bread  or  Flour),  in  allusion  to  this  cache. 

Sea  Gull  lake.  like  the  Gull  lake  in  Cass  county,  is  a  translation  from 
the  Ojibway  name,  referring  tf>  the  American  herring  gull  and  three 
other  species,  which  frequent  the  large  lakes  throughout  this  state. 


Turning  to  the  streams  and  lakes  trihutary  to  Lake  Superior  from 
Cook  county,  in  their  order  from  southwest  to  northeast,  we  have  first 
the  Two  Island  river,  named  tor  Gull  and  Bear  islands,  near  its  mouth. 

Cross  river,  at  Schroeder,  was  so  called  by  Thomas  Clark,  assistant 
state  geologist,  in  1854.  but  later  was  named  Baraga's  river  by  Whittle- 
sey in  1866.  It  had  previously  been  named  by  the  Ojibways,  as  GilfiUan 
relates,  "Tchibaiatigo  zibi,  i.  e.,  woo d-of-the-soul-or- spirit  river ;  they 
calling  the  Cross  wood  of  the  soul,  or  disembodied  spirit."  The  origin 
of  this  name  was  from  a  cross  of  wood  erected  by  Father  Baraga,  who, 
as  Verwyst  relates,  "landed  here  after  a  perilous  voyage  in  a  small  fish- 
ing boat,  across  Lake  Superior.  1845-6,"  Whittlesey,  in  his  report  of 
explorations,  published  in  1866,  wrote:  "At  the  mouth  of  this  creek 
there  was  in  1848  a  rough,  weather-beaten  cross  nailed  to  the  tall  stump 
of  a  tree,  on  which  was  written  in  pencil  the  following  words;  In 
commemoration  of  the  goodness  of  Almighty  God  in  granting  to  the  ■ 
Reverend  F.  R.  Baraga,  Missionary,  a  safe  traverse  from  La  Pointe  to 


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COOK  COUNTY  143 

this  place,  August,  1843,'  ...  I  have  endeavored  to  perpetuate  this  inci- 
dent, and  the  memciry  of  Father  Baraga,  by  naming  the  stream  after 
him."  Bishop  Frederic  Baraga  was  born  in  Austria,  June  29,  179? ;  and 
died  in  Marquette,  Mich.,  January  19,  1868.  He  was  a  Catholic  missionary 
to  the  Indians  iri  northern  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  and  northeastern 
Minnesota.  1835-68;  author  of  an  Ojibway  grammar  and  dictionary,  often 
quoted  in  this  book,  and  of  various  religious  works. 

Temperance  river  was  called  Kawimbash  river  by  Norwood,  of  Owen's 
geologica!  survey,  1848-S2,  and  it  retained  that  name,  meaning  "deep 
hollow,"  in  Whittlesey's  report,  1866;  but  it  had  received  ifs  present 
name  in  Clark's  geological  report,  1864,  and  was  so  mapped  in  1871. 
Clark  explained  the  origin  of  the  name  Temperance  as  follows :  "Most 
of  the  streams  entering  the  lake  on  this  shore,  excepting  when  their 
volumes  are  swollen  by  spring  or  heavy  rain  floods,  are  nearly  or  quite 
closed  at  their  mouths  by  gravel,  called  the  bar,  thrown  up  by  the 
lake's  waves;  this  stream,  nevSr  having  a  'bar'  at  its  entrance,  to  incom- 
mode and  baffle  the  weary  voyageur  in  securing  a  safe  landing,  is  called 
no  bar  or  Temperance  river,"  Its  sources  include  Temperance  lake, 
close  west  of  Brule  lake,  which  has  two  outlets,  the  larger  flowing  east 
to  Brule  river,  and  the  other  flowing  west  to  Temperance  lake  and  river ; 
Cherokee  lake,  as  it  is  named  on  recent  maps,  called  Ida  Belle  lake  by 
the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  in  honor  of  a  daughter  of  Prof. 
Alexander  Winchell,  who  became  the  wife  of  Horace  V.  Winchell; 
Saw  Bill  lake,  named  for  a  species  of  duck;  and  Alton,  Kelso,  and  Little 
Saw  Bill  lakes. 

Below  Temperance  lake,  the  river  of  this  name  flows  through  Jack, 
Kelly,  Peterson,  and  Baker  lakes.  Other  lakes  near  its  course  and  tributary 
to  it  include  Vern  lake,  Pipe  'lake,  named  for  its  outline,  Moore,  Marsh, 
and  Anderson  lakes,  on  the  east;  and  Clam  lake,  Odd,  Java,  Smoke,  and 
Burnt  lakes,  on  the  west. 

Near  the  west  side  of  the  county,  and  ranging  from  the  northern 
watershed  down  the  general  slope  toward  Lake  Superior,  are  Mesabi  lake. 
Dent,  Bug,  Poe,  Wind.  Duck,  and  Pie  lakes;  Grace,  Ella.  Beth,  and 
Phoebe  lakes;  and  Frear,  Elbow,  Whitefish,  Twohey,  Four  Mile,  and 
Cedar  lakes. 

Gilfillan  wrote  that,  in  the  Ojibway  language,  "Poplar  river  is  Ga- 
manazadika  zibi,  i.  e.,  place-of -poplars  river."  Clark  in  1864  definitely 
translated  it  as  "Balm  of  Gilead,"  a  variety  of  the  balsam  poplar,  common 
or  frequent  along  rivers  in  northeastern  Minnesota.  Lakes  tributary  to 
this  river  include  Gust  lake,  named  for  Gust  Hagberg,  a  Swede  home- 
steader near  it;  Long,  Beaver,  Pine,  Rice,  Haberstead,  and  Barker  lakes; 
Elbow  or  Tait  lake;  and  Lake  Clara,  Big,  and  Sucker  lakes,  the  last 
recently  renamed  Lake  Christine,  in  honor  of  the  daughter  of  William 
J.  Clinch,  county  superintendent  of  schools,  who  has  a  homestead  there. 
East  of  Poplar  river,  mostly  tributary  to  it,  are  the  Twin  lakes,  Mark, 
Pike,  Trout,  Bigsby,  and  Caribou  lakes,  and  Lake  Agnes. 


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144  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Small  streams  next  eastward,  flowing  into  Lake  Superior,  are  named 
False  Poplar,  Spruce,  and  Indian  Camp  rivers. 

Cascade  river,  named  from  jts  series  of  beautiful  waterfalls  near  its 
mouth,  has  Cascade  and  Little  Cascade  lakes.  Swamp  lake,  Eagle  and  Zoo 
lakes,  and  the  large  Island  lake.  About  six  miles  above  its  mouth,  it 
receives  an  eastern  tributary  named  Bally  creek  in  honor  of  Samuel 
Bally,  a  member  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  who  has  a  home- 
stead there. 

Cut  Face,  Rose  Bush,  and  Fall  rivers,  small  streams  between  Cascade 
river  and  Grand  MaraJs,  have  no  considerable  lakes. 

"Devil  Track  river,"  wrote  Gilfillan,  "is  Manido  bimadagakowini  zibi, 
meaning  the  spirits  {or  God)  walking-place-on-the-ice  river."  The  Ojib- 
ways  applied  this  name  primarily  to  Devil  Track  lake,  and  thence,  accord- 
ing to  their  custom,  to  the  outflowing  river.  The  name  implies  mystery 
or  something  supernatural  about  the  lake  and  its  winter  covering  of  ice, 
but  without  the  supremely  evil  idea  that  is  given  in  the  white  men's 
translation.  The  wild  rock  gorge  of  the  river  below  this  lake  may  have 
suggested  the  aboriginal  name,  which  was  used  by  Norwood  in  1851 
and  Clark  in  1864,  Its  translation,  as  now  used,  dates  from  the  settle- 
ment of  Grand  Marais  by  Henry  Mayhew  and  others  in  18?1, 

Tributary  to  Devil  Track  lake  and  river  are  Swamp  lake  and  creek, 
Qearwater  lake,  Elbow  lake,  named  like  numerous  others,  from  its  out- 
line, and  Monker  lake,  named  for  Claos  C.  Monker,  a  Norwegian  home- 
steader on  its  south  side,  who  has  been  later  a  fisherman,  living  in  Grand 

Next  eastward  are  Durfee  and  Kimball  creeks,  the  latter  having 
Kimball  and  Pickerel  lakes.  Durfee  creek  was  named  in  honor  of  George 
H.  Durfee,  judge  of  probate  of  this  county.  Kimball  creek  was  named 
by  Thomas  Clark,  in  the  geological  exploration  of  1864,  for  Charles  G. 
Kimball,  a  member  of  the  party,  wiho  lost  his  life  near  this  stream  by 
drowning  in  Lake  Superior. 

Diarrhoea  river,  which  receives  the  outflow  of  Trout  lake,  has  this 
name  on  Norwood's  map  in  the  Owen  survey,  1851,  referring  to  illness 
thought  due  to  drinking  its  water;  and  it  is  so  named  by  Jewett's  map, 
1911.  The  maps  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  call  it  Green- 
Brule  river,  called  Wisacod'e  by  Norwood,  is  given  by  Gilfillan  as 
"Wissakode  zibi  or  Half-burnt-wood  river."  Its  largest  lake,  at  the 
source  of  its  South  branch,  is  Brule  lake,  which,  as  before  mentioned, 
has  another  outlet  to  Temperance  river.  One  of  the  islands  of  Brule 
lake  is  called  Tamarack  island,  for  an  old  Ojibway,  John  Tamarack, 
who  lived  on  it  (Brule,  the  French  word  meaning  burnt,  has  two  syl- 
lables, the  second  having  the  English  sound  of  lay;  but  it  is  often  printed 
without  the  mark  of  accent  on  the  e,  so  that  it  is  liable  to  be  mispro- 
nounced in  only  one  syllable,  the  e  becoming  silent.) 


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COOK  COUNTY  145 

Juno,  Homer,  Axe,  and  Star  lakes,  the  last  probably  named  for  its 
radiating  arms,  lie  close   south   of   Brule  lake. 

The  South  branch  flows  through  Brule  bay,  which  P       t  all 

lake,  Vernon,  Swan,  and  Lower  Trout  lakes.     It  rece  f     m  th  th 

the  outflow  of  Echo,  Vance,  and  Little  Trout  lakes         d         th  th 

are  Abita,  Keno,  or  Clubfoot.  Pine,  and  Twin  lakes      Ab  ta  lak  th 

southern   slope   from   Brule  mountain,   has  the  distm  t  t   b      g  th 

highest  lake  in  Minnesota,  2,048  feet  above  the  sea 

The  North  brandi   of  Brule  river  receives  the  oiitfl        f  P  pi 

Winchell,  and  Meeds  lakes,  and  a  large  number  more       tl     it    f  I  k 
before  noted  for  the  most  northern  townships  uf  the  county. 

Below  the  junction  of  its  South  and  North  branches,  Brule  river 
flows  througii  Elephant  lake,  as  it  is  named  on  our  maps,  more  commonly 
ttnowti  by  the  people  of  the  region  as  Northern  Light  lake;  and  it 
receives   Greenwood  river,   the   outlet   of   Greenwood  lake. 

Little  Bru!^  river  is  tributary  to  Lake  Superior  about  a  mile  west  of 
the  large  Brule  river. 

Between  Brule  and  Pigeon  rivers,  only  small  streams  enter  Lake 
Superior,  including,  in  order  from  west  to  east.  Flute  Reed  river.  Swamp 
river.  Red  Sand  or  Reservation   river,  and  Hollow  Rock  creek. 

PoiNTSj  Bays,  and  Islands  of  Lake  Superior. 

Sugar  Loaf  point  is  two  miles  northeast  from  the  southwest  corner  of 
this    county. 

Gull  and  Bear  islands  gave  the  name  of  Two  Island  river,  as  before 
noted.  At  the  mouth  of  this  river  the  village  of  Saxton  was  platted  by 
Commodore  Saxton,  Lyle  Hutchins,  and  others,  in  August,  1856,  but  was 
abandoned  two  years  later,  as  related  by  Robert  B.  McLean,  of  Duluth. 

Between  Poplar  and  Devil  Track  rivers  are  Caribou  point.  Black 
point,  Lover's  point  and  bay,  Terrace  point  and  Guod  Harbor  bay,  and  the 
two  bays  at  Grand  Marais, 

Cow  Tongue  point,  as  named  in  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  a 
half  mile  southwest  of  Kimbal!  creek,  is  more  commonly  known  as 
Scott's  point,  for  Andrew  Jackson  Scott,  who  is  commemorated  also  by 
Hungry  Jack  lake  in  this  county,  before  noted. 

Fishhook  point  is  about  two  miles  and  a  half  southwest  of  the  mouth 
of  Brule  river. 

Chicago  bay,  into  which  the  Flute  Reed  river  flows  at  Hovland  village, 
was  called  Sickle  bay  in  the  Geolc^ical  Survey. 

Thence  northeastward  are  Horseshoe  and  Double  bays.  Cannon  Ball 
bay,  Red  Rock  bay.  Red  point,  and  Deronda  bay.  The  last  was  named 
by  Prof  N.  H.  Winchell  in  J880,  from  George  Eliot's  novel,  "Daniel 
Deronda,"  published  in  1876,  read  partly  in  camp  there. 

Two  small  unnamed  islands  lie  about  a  half  mile  and  one  mile  east 
of  Cannon  Ball  bay,  and  Arch  island  is  off  the  southwest  point  inclosing 
Deronda  bay. 


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146  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Between  Red  Rock  bay  and  Red  point,  a  craggy  part  of  the  shore  is 
called  the  East  Palisades, 

Grand  Portage  island,  which  lies  in  front  of  the  bay  of  this  name,  is 
now  often  called  Ganon  island,  for  Peter  Ganon,  who  has  a  supply  store 
on  its  northern   poiirt. 

Hat  point,  in  front  of  Mt.  Josephine,  projects  into  the  lake  between 
Grand  Portage  bay  and  Waiis-wau-goning'  bay.  The  name  of  the  latter 
bay,  considerably  changed  from  its  proper  Ojibway  form,  was  translated 
by  GilfiUan  as  "niakjng-a-light-by  torches,"  having  reference  to  the 
spearing  of  fish  at  night,  whence  Clark  in  1864  called  it  "Spear-fish  bay," 
a  more  free  translation. 

East  of  this  bay,  within  about  three  miles,  Clark  enumerated  twelve 
islands,  which  he  compared,  in  beauty  of  scenery  and  attractiveness  for 
sportsmen,  with  the  Apostle  Islands  near  La  Pointe,  Wisconsin.  The 
largest  was  named  Governor's  island  by  Dr.  Augustus  H.  Hanchett,  of 
New  York  City,  state  geologist  of  Minnesota  in  1864,  in  honor  of  Gov. 
Stephen  Miller,  and  this  name  is  retained  by  maps ;  but  it  is  more  com- 
monly known  as  Susie  island,  a  name  used  by  the  later  state  geologist. 
Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  in  1880.  The  next  in  size,  which  rises  highest, 
named  by  Oark  as  High  island,  was  called  Lucille  island  by  Winchell. 
Others  of  this  group  were  named  Magnet  and  Syenite  islands  by  Clark, 
and  Birdi,  Belle  Rose,  Little  Brick,  and  Porcupine  islands,  by  Winchell. 

Northeast  of  these  islands  are  Morrison  and  Qark  bays,  the  latter 
named  by  Hanchett  m  honor  of  his  assistant,  Thomas  Clark,  author  of 
valuable  reports  on  the  geology  of  parts  of  Minnesota,  published  in  1861 
and  186S.  Clark  was  born  in  Le  Ray,  Jefferson  County,  N.  Y.,  January 
6,  1814;  removed  to  Ohio  about  1835,  settling  in  Maumee;  removed  to 
Toledo  in  1851 ;  was  a  civil  engineer,  and  came  to  Superior,  Wis.,  in 
1854;  surveyed  the  original  site  of  that  city;  later  surveyed  and  settled 
at  Beaver  Bay,  Minn.,  his  home  when  a  state  senator,  1859-60;  died  in 
Superior,  Wis.,  December  20,  1878. 

Pigeon  point  and  bay,  named  from  the  river,  are  the  most  eastern 
part  of  this  state. 

Mountains  and  Hills. 

In  voyaging  along  the  north  side  of  Lake  Superior,  the  highland  in 
Cook  county  within  one  to  two  or  three  miles  back  from  the  shore  is 
seen  as  a  succession  of  serrate  hills  and  low  mountains,  the  peaks  being 
generally  about  two  miles  apart  for  distances  of  many  miles.  The 
visible  crest  line  thus  presents  a  remarkable  profile,  resembling  fte  teeth 
of  an  immense  saw.  Between  Temperance  river  and  Grand  Marais, 
through  nearly  thirty  miles,  a  somewhat  regular  series  of  these  sharp 
outlines  on  the  verge  of  the  interior  plateau  has  received  the  name  of 
Sawteeth  mountains. 

The  most  conspicuous  and  highest  summit  of  this  range,  at  its  west 
end  close  back  from  the  village  of  Tofte,  was  named  Carlton  peak  in  1848 


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COOK  COUNTY  147 

by  C  lonel  Charl     Wl  'ttl     j    '    }  f  Re  b  n  B  Carltrn  of  Fond  du 

L       M  f        1  th  t  d  d  U      m       t  1   Wh  ttl 

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!  k  w      h  d  by   h        tti      f  C    It  ty     A     tl       p    k      call  d 

GdHbhll  gbt  Iwtfthby  md 

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£R  t  w  mdh  f  fti  fthUS 

S        >     £  th     b      t  L  k 

Mtjpl  tth  tdfGdPtgb  md 

I         d    ght        f  J  h     G  df    y     f  D  t     t    M    h    wh    h  d      t    d    g 
pttGdM  dg  ly  pt    1858     W  di      p    ty    f 

y      gp    pi      h    wlkdf    mOr    dPrtg    tth    tp    fth     m 
t  b     t  th    yea     !8S3 

M       t        J  k  th        t        t       1  bo     d         h      M  m       t 

1  th    f    t         t      d       d  lit  R  m  1    w    t    f       w    t      d 

thlttba  mg         f       tbgpl  fmtgfpt 

th    M  t     G    1  g     1  S        y 


E  gl  t  b     t  fi  1  thw    t     f  B     I     m       t  d 

I         t    f  E  gl    I  k 
Pit  t  bt  tl  tdfCfltlL 

1  k 

Tl     1  gl     1 1     d      f  M  t  th    M   q    h  h  11  t  t    w    t 

g  th     f  C  d  W      h  II  1  k  1         h  lit  p     w  th      f 

ml  t       d  mi       wtfMqhlk  bt2200ft 

bo      th  th    hgh    tb     g  2230  f    t     Th  f  tl     M   q    h 

Ik        d  h  U        tl     Oj  bw  y  w    d  m         g      d  11  t    th  d 

gt  kwhh  pd  t  topPfNH 

W     h  11  w    t         1881      M   q    h  1  k         fl    ked        th  th      t      d 

t  by  1  gh  b     k     d  h  11  f  tl        t      g  500        600  f    t  h  gh 

Th    t  b  mg         1      11  fi     k  11  d      d  d     11  w      p    f    t 

f  tl  k 

r     th  t    dg      f  th  tj    th     W      b    1  k    m    k    tl  t 

t  f  th     M      b    r        R    g     wh   h  p  bj   L  ttl     S  gan  g 

Ik        d        th      t  t    C     fl    t  1  k       Th     Oj  bw  y       m  g 

N     11  t     m  p        1843  W      b  y  H   ght        It  1       b  p  11  d 

1  Mbbgtfra        t!         pt        dmpfth 

M  t     G    1  g  ctI   S        3      G  IfiU       t       1  t  d    t  G      t  m 

t  w  tl  dd  tion  1      t        M       b  g     t     f    m  d 

ca      b  1     Tl  h      m      t  q      tly   th     h  gh    t,    b  gg    t 

m      t  W      h  11         t       f    t      Th     Ch  pp  t  G      d  P  rtag 

p  t  M       b  t  mb  d       th    h  11  th         th  h  11       p 

tgdff       tmmb         fl      bdy       Gfit      dNtllkl 
th  f        t       t         f  th    M      1    R    g      b     t  t      m  1  tl 

f    m  th         g      f  th    M   q    h  h  11        tl  wl    1    t      p      11  1 


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148  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Superior  National  Forest. 
Large  tia.cts  in  Gxik,  Lake,  and  St.  Louis  counties,  exceeding:  a 
million  acres,  deemed  chiefly  valuable  for  forestry,  were  set  apart  by  the 
United  States  government  as  a  public  reservation  and  named  the  Supe- 
rior National  Forest,  in  a  proclamation  of  President  Roosevelt,  February 
13,  1909,  to  which  subsequent  additions  through  similar  proclamations 
have  been  since  made.  The  initial  recommendation  for  forestry  reser- 
vation of  these  Minnesota  lands  was  addressed  to  the  commissioner  of 
the  U.  S.  General  Land  Office  by  Gen.  C.  C.  Andrews,  chief  forest  fire 
warden  of  this  state,  in  1902;  and  the  authority  for  such  national  reserva- 
tions had  been  vested  in  the  President  of  the  United  States  by  an  act 
of   Congress  in  1891. 

Pigeon  River  Indian  Reservation. 
An  area  of  about  65  square  miles,  including  the  trading  post  and 
village  of  Grand  Portage,  the  portage  road  to  Pigeon  river,  and  the  tract 
southward  to.  the  lake  shore  and  west  to  Cranberry  Marsh  or  Red  Sand 
river,  now  commonly  known  as  Reservation  river,  was  set  apart  in  a 
treaty  with  the  Ojibways  at  La  Pointe,  Wis.,  September  30,  1854,  for  the 
Grand  Portage  band  of  these  Indians.  In  the  national  census  of  1910  the 
number  of  Indians  in  Cook  county,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  tiieir  homes 
in  this  Reservation,  was  220. 

Glacial  Lakes  Duluth  and  Omimi. 
The  great  glacial  lake  which  was  held  by  the  barrier  of  the  depart- 
ing ice-sheet  in  the  western  part  of  the  basin  of  t^ke  Superior,  forming 
beach  lines  at  Duluth  535  and  475  feet  above  Lake  Superior,  was  named 
by  the  present  writer  in  1S93  as  the  "Western  Superior  glacial, lake."  In 
1897  and  1898,  respectively,  this  cumbersome  name  was  changed  by  Frank 
S.  Taylor  and  Arthur  H.  Elftman  to  be  Glacial  Lake  Duluth.    The  heights 

f  't      trand  Im  Mt.  Josephine  had  been  determined  by  leveling  in 

1891  bj  P    f  A  d    w  C  Lawson,  as  607  and  587  feet  above  Lake  Superior, 

h   h       60    f        b        the  sea. 

A  wh  t  h  gh      and  much   smaller  glacial  lake,  existing  for  a 

la       1      h  m         the  Pigeon  river  basin  in  eastern  Cook  county  and 

ext  nd  ng    I  gh  1       t     Canada,  was  described  and  named  Lake  Omimi 

by  Elf  m  f  11         (Am.  Geologist,  vol.  XXI,  p.  104,  Feb.  1898)  : 

B  f        th  h  d       eded  beyond  mount  Josephine  it  retained  a  lake 

fb     t40q  mis  in  area  lying  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  present 

P  g  Th    1  k    bed  has  an  altitude  of  1,255  to  1,360  feet  above 

the  sea.    Its  lowest  point  is  thus  about  SO  feet  higher  than  the  upper 

stage  of  Lake  Duluth When  the  ice  receded  from  the  vicinity 

6f  Grand  Portage,  Lake  Omimi  disappeared.    The  name  Omimi  is  taken 
from  the  Chippewa  name  for  Pigeon  river." 


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COTTONWOOD  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  May  23,  1857,  organized  July  29,  1870,  de- 
rived its  name  from  the  Cottonwood  river,  which  touches  the  northeast 
corner  of  Gerraantown  in  this  county,  and  to  which  its  northwest  town- 
ships send  their  drainage  by  several  small  streams  flowing  northward. 
It  is  a  translation  of  Waraju,  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  name,  noted  by 
K  t'  g  and  b  N'  11  t'  p  rt  and  map  Keat'ng  wrote  that  the  river 
m  d    f    m  th     b  nd  f  th    t  t   b    k  d  N     11  t 

t  t  d  th  t  tl      m    t       p     t     t      Hag       f  th     S       t       S  t 

rth  b    k  t    )       t       'ft  tl  th    M  n        ta  Th        tt  d 

1  iled  th  kl        p  pi  f    t  g  g   t  11  t  jon 

f    q      t  th      gh  th  th  h  If     f  th       t  t        d  al  ng  tl     R  d 

11  y   b  t  1         t         rtl  ea  t         1  m  t  tl      1      dw   t  f  tl      St 

C     X       d  th     M  pp      It  t  !j    pi    ted   f        h  d 

hh      fmwd         df      felbtttlm      flddgtl  d 

f     m   t    t        1        h   h  th      pn  g     th        tt       f     m  tl  d    p       e 

f  ni    h  -a        t    tl     t  dy  h  f 

Th    C      d       F       h  t    d  d  g         g        t    th        tt  nw  od 

th     n  m     L      d    mea      g       f     t!     g    p    h  p  11  t     th     n      ly 

Ihl       q     1  ty     f    t    1      b      f  t      t  Tl        t  an  !  t   n 

fthDkt        m  R  xLd  ecddbKtg 

1823     I     th    J  1    f  th    y      g      Al        d      H      3    p  bl   bed 

1897  d  t  d  b     D     Ell    tt  C  H     rj  w    t    m  180    0+    £        th 

Ri  axLd         tbt  fkdLk  ibblytlQ 

w  t  "wh   h    Iso  h      g  t  t  ty    f  M  ta. 

T0\\NbHlPS  AND  \  ILLAgES. 

The  information  of  origins  and  meanings  of  geographic  names  in  this 
county  was  received  from  "History  of  Cottonwood  and  Watonwan 
Counties,"  John  A.  Brown,  editor,  two  volumes,  1916 ;  from  "A  History 
of  the  Origin  of  the  Place  Names  connected  with  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western and  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Omaha  Railways,"  by 
W.  H.  Stennett,  202  pages,  1908;  from  S.  A.  Brown,  county  auditor, 
S.  J.  Fering,  register  of  deeds,  and'  A.  W.  Annes,  judge  of  probate,  during 
a  visit  in  Windom,  July,  1916;  and  from  E.  C.  Huntington,  of  St.  Paul, 
who  for  thirty-six  years,  1871-1907,  was  editor  of  the  Windom  Reporter. 

Amboy  township,  organized  October  10,  1872,  was  named  by  settlers 
from  the  eastern  states.  Townships  or  villages  of  this  name  are  in  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York, 

Amo  township,  organized  March  4,  1873,  was  named  Jq"  W.  H.  Ben- 
bow,  then  clerk  of  court  for  the  county,  to  inculcate  the  principle  of 
friendship,  the  meaning  of  the  name,  in  Latin,  being  "I  love." 


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150  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Ann  township,  organized  in  1876,  was  named  in  honor  of  die  wife 
of  Hogan  Anderson,  then  3  member  of  the  board  of  county  commission- 
ers, who  was  a  homestead  farmer  in  this  township,  wagonmaker  and 
merchant. 

Bingham  Lake,  a  railway  village,  platted  July  28,  187S,  and  incor- 
porated in  1900,  "was  named  from  a  nearby  lake.  The  lake  was  named 
by  the  United  States  surveyor,  for  Senator  K.  S.  Bingham,  of  Michi- 
gan," Kinsley  Scott  Bingham  was  born  at  Camillus,  N.  Y.,  December 
16,  1808;  removed  to  Michigan  in  1833,  and  engaged  in  farming;  was  a 
representative  in  the  state  legislature,  1836-40;  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, 1847-51;  governor  of  Michigan,  1855-59;  and  a  U.  S.  senator,  1859- 
61,  until  his  death  at  Oak  Grove,  Mich,,  October  5,  1861. 

Cahson  towaship,  organized  in  July,  1871,  bears  the  name  of  the 
widely  known  frontiersman,  trapper,  guide,  soldier,  and  Indian  agent, 
Christopher  (commonly  called  Kit)  Carson  (b.  1809,  d.  1868),  for  whom 
Carson  City,  the  capital  of  Nevada,  was  named. 

Dale  township  was  organized  March  30,  1872,  having  a  name  sug- 
gested by  its  valley  and  lakes.  "When  first  discovered,  there  was  a  beau- 
tiful chain  of  lakes  in  the  central  eastern  portion  of  this  township. 
These  were  filled  in  their  season  with  wild  fowls,  and  many  fish  abounded 
in  their  waters.  With  the  settlement  of  the  country,  several  of  these 
lakes  have  been  drained  out  and  are  now  utilized  for  pasture  and  field 
purposes  by  the  farmers  who  own  the  property.  Some  of  the  lakes  are 
stiil  intact  and  are  highly  prized  by  the  citizens  of  the  county." 

Delft,  established  as  a  railway  station  in  18^  and  platted  as  a  village 
June  18,  1902,  "was  named  for  the  city  in  Holland  by  John  Barfsch  and 
Henry  Wieb.  Previous  to  adopting  this  name  the  village  was  called 
Wilhelmine,   a   female  name  common   in  Holland," 

Delton  township,  organized  September  17,  1872,  bears  the  same  name 
with  villages  in  Virginia,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin. 

Germantown,  organized  January  24,  1874,  received  its  name  from'  its 
many  German  settlers,  who  were  a  large  majority  of  the  early  home- 
steaders in  this  township. 

Great  Bend  township  organized  August  27,  1870  "derives  its  name 
D  m  M 


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COTTONWOOD  COUNTY  151 

Wolf  lakes,  of  which  the  third  and  fifth  nearly  adjoin  the  village  of 
Windom.    Fish  lake  has  been  renamed  Willow  lake, 

Midway  township  was  organized  March  16,  1895,  having  previously 
been  a  part  of  Mountain  Lake  township.  Its  name  refers  to  its  situation 
oa  the  railway,  equidistant  between  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City. 

Mountain  Lake  township,  organized  May  6,  1871,  derived  its  name 
from  its  former  large  lake,  in  which  a  mountain-like  island  rose  with 
steep  shores  and  nearly  flat  top  about  40  feet  above  the  lake,  having 
similar  outlines  to  those  of  the  surrounding  bluffs  and  general  upland. 
"The  upper  part  of  the  island  was  covered  with  trees,  which  could  be  seen 
for  many  miles.     This  spot  served  as  a  landmark  and  a  guide  for  many 

of  the  early  settlers The  lake,  as  known  to  pioneers,  is  no  more; 

it  has  long  since  been  drained,  and  grains  and  grasses  grow  in  its  old  bed." 
Mountain  Lake  village,  on  the  railway  in  the  south  edge  of  Midway 
township,  was  platted  May  25,  1872. 

Rose  Hill  township,  organized  April  5,  1879,  received  its  name  tor  its 
plentiful  wild  prairie  roses  and  its  low  ridges  and  hilts  of  niorainic  drift. 

Selma  township,  organized  April  4.  1874,  bears  a  Scandinavian  fem- 
inine Christian  name,  given  to  the  first  child  born  there. 

South  BROOK,  the  most  southwestern  township  of  this  county,  was 
organized  in  July,  1871.  It  is  crossed  by  the  Des  Moines  river,  to  which 
this  township  sends  small  brooks  and  rivulets  from  springs  in  the  river 
bluffs. 

Springfield,  organized  August  27,  1870,  was  named  by  settlers  from 
eastern  states,  many  of  which  have  townships,  villages,  and  cities  of  this 

Stobden  township,  organized  March  30,  1875,  was  first  named  Norsk, 
for  its  many  Norwegian  pioneers,  but  later  was  renamed  in  honor  of  its 
first  settler,  Neis  Storden,  an  immigrant  from  Norway.  Its  railway 
village  of  the  same  name  was  platted  July  8,  1903, 

Westbeook,  organized  September  17,  1870,  was  named  for  the  west 
branch  of  Highwater  creek,  which  flows  across  the  southeast  part  of  this 
township.     The  railway  village  of  Westbrook  was  platted  June  8,  1900. 

Windom,  the  county  seat,  was  platted  June  20,  1871 ;  was  incorporated 
as  a  vili^e  in  the  spring  of  1875,  the  first  ordinance  of  the  village  council 
being  passed  April  15;  and  was  re-incorporated  September  9,  1884.  It 
was  named  by  Gen,  Judson  W.  Bishop,  of  St,  Paul,  chief  engineer  for 
construction  of  the  railway,  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  statesman, 
William  Windom,  of  Winona.  He  was  born  in  Belmont  county,  Ohio, 
May  10,  1827 ;  and  died  in  New  York  City,  January  29,  1891.  He  received 
an  academic  education,  and  studied  law ;  came  to  Winona,  Minn.,  in  1855 ; 
was  a  representative  in  Congress,  1859-69,  and  U.  S.  senator,  1871-81 ;  was 
a  member  of  the  cabinet  of  President  Garfield,  in  188!,  as  secretary  of 
the  treasury,  but  retired  on  the  accession  of  President  Arthur;  was  again 
U.  S.  senator,  1881-83.    On  the  inauguration  of  President  Harrison,  in 


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152  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

1889,  Wihdom  was  re-appointed'  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  held  the 
office  till  his  death,  which  was  very  sudden,  from  heart  failure,  just  after 
making  an  address  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade.  A 
volume  entitled  "Memorial  Tributes  to  the  Character  and  Public  Services 
of  William  Windom,  together  with  his  Last  Address,"  161  pages,  was 
printed   in   1891. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

Little  Cottonwood  river,  and  several  streams  flowing  to  the  Cotton- 
wood, namely.  Mound,  Dry,  and  Highwater  creeks,  and  Dutch  Charley's 
creek,  receive  the  drainage  of  the  northern  part  of  this  county.  Mound 
creek  was  named  in  allusion  to  the  massive  ridge  of  quartzite,  mainly 
overspread  with  the  glacial  drift,  whence  it  derives  its  highest  springs; 
Dry  creek,  because  it  becomes  very  small,  or  is  wholly  dried  up,  in  severe 
droughts;  Highwater  creek,  as  before  noted,  for  its  sudden  rise  after 
heavy  rains;  and  Dutdj  C3iarley's  creek,  for  the  earliest  settler  of  Cotton- 
wood county,  Charles  Zierke,  whom  the  government  surveyors  found 
living  beside  that  creek  when  they  first  came; 

Several  lakes  have  been  sufficiently  noticed  in  the  foregoing  list  of 
townships,  including  Mountain  lake,  Bingham  lake,  and  others  in  Lake- 

The  former  Glen  and  Summit  lakes,  about  two  miles  east  of  Windom, 

Bartsch,  Eagle,  Long,  Maiden,  and  Rat  lakes  are  in  Carson,  the  first 
named  for  Jacob  Bartsch,  a  farmer  there,  and  the  last  named  for  its 

Swan,  Lenhart's,  and  Wilson's  lakes,  in  Dale,  have  been  drained.  The 
latter  two,  named  respectively  for  John  F.  Lenhart  and  Samuel  Wilson, 
settlers  adjoining  them,  and  a  third,  named  Harder's  lake,  were  formerly 
called  "the  Three  lakes."  Arnold's  lake,  close  north  of  these,  was  named 
for  a  settler  who  came  from  Owatonna. 

Lake  Augusta  was  named  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  a  pioneer  home- 
steader adjoining  it  The  outlet,  Harvey  creek,  flowing  south  to  the 
Des  Moines,  commemorates  Harvey  Carey,  like  the  lake  to  be  later 
mentioned. 

Hurricane  lake,  now  drained,  had  reference  to  a  tornado  whirft  pros- 
trated trees  on  its  shore. 

Bean  lake  was  named  for  an  early  settler,  Joseph  F.  Bean,  who  had 
remarkable  talent  of  memorizing  what  he  read. 

Double  lakes,  a  mile  south  of  the  last,  are  separated'  only  by  space 
for  a  road. 

Berry  and  Carey  lakes  were  named  for  settlers  near  them,  the  latter 
for  the  brothers  Harvey,  John,  and  Ralph  Carey. 

Long  lake,  a  half  mile  west  of  Carey  lake,  was  formerly  called  the 
Twin  lakes. 


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COTTONWOOD  COUNTY  153 

Oaks  lake  may  have  been  so  called  by  the  early  surveyors,  to  preserve 
the  name,  "Lake  of  the  Oaks,"  which  Allen  in  1844  applied  to  Lake 
Shetek,  sixteen  miles  distant  up  the  Des  Moines  river. 

The  two  String  lakes,  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  Great  Bend  town- 
ship, are  named  for  their  lying  in  a  single  winding  string-like  course, 
scarcely  separated. 

Dear  lake,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  Southbrook,  like  another  Clear 
lake  before  mentioned  in  Lakeside,  refers  to  the  clearness  of  its  deep 
water,  not  covered  by  grass  and  water  plants  as  many  shallow  lakes. 

Takott  lake,  through  which  the  Des  Moines  river  flows  in  Southhrook, 
is  one  of  the  names  placed  by  Nicollet  on  his  map,  published  in  1843, 
to  commemorate  friends  and  prominent  men  of  science.  His  generous 
use  of  such  names  in  the  upper  Mississippi  region  has  been  noticed  in  the 
chapter  of  Cass  county.  On  and  near  the  upper  Des  Moines  river,  he  has 
Lakes  TaJcott  and  Graham,  of  which  the  latter  is  preserved  as  the  name 
of  two  lakes  and  a  township  in  Nobles  county.  These  names  are  in  honor 
of  Andrew  Talcotf  and  James  D.  Graham,  who,  with  James  Renwick, 
■  were  commissioners,  in  1840-43,  to  survey  the  disputed  northeastern 
boundary  of  the  United  States.  Andrew  Talcott  was  born  in  Glastonbury, 
Cona.,  April  20,  1797 ;  and  died  in  Richmond,  Va.,  April  22,  1883.  He  was 
graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  1818;  was  engineer 
on  many  government  works ;  was  astronomer  in  surveys  of  the  boundary 
between  Ohio  and  Michigan,  1828-35 ;  was  chief  engineer  of  railway  work 
in  Mexico  during  the  civil  war. 

The  upper  Des  Moines  river  and  adjoining  region  were  explored  in 
1844  by  Captain  James  Allen  and  a  company  of  dragoons,  of  which  he 
presented  a  report  and  journal,  published  by  Congress  in  1846.  Morainic 
drift  hiils  along  the  southwest  side  of  the  Des  Moines,  two  to  five  miles 

northwest  of  Windom,  were  noted  by  Allen  as  "high  bluffs, ISO 

or  200  feet  above  the  general  level  of  the  country."  These  are  named 
Blue  Mounds  in  the  description  and  map  of  this  county  by  the  Minnesota 
Geological  Survey  (vol.  I,  1884,  chapter  XVI). 


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CROW  WING  COUNTY 

This  county,  estabJished  May  23,  I8S7,  organized  March  3,  1870,  was 
named  for  the  Crow  Wing  river,  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name, 
spelled  Kagiwigwan  on  Nicollet's  map,  and  Gagagiwigwuni  by  Gilfillan, 
who    would    preferably   translate   it,    following    Schoolcraft,    as    "Raven 

Pike  in  1805  and  Schoolcraft  in  1820  and  1832  used  the  French  name 
of  this  river,  de  Corbeau,  meaning  of  the  Raven;  but  its  more  complete 
name  in  French  was  riviere  a  I'Aile  de  Corbeau,  river  of  the  Wing  of  the 
Raven,  as  translated  by  the  vo3^geurs  and  traders  from  the  Ojibway 
name.  In  the  "Summary  Narrative,"  published  in  1855,  Schoolcraft 
referred  to  the  somewhat  erroneous  English  translation,  Crow  Wing 
river,  as  follows :  "The  Indian  name  of  this  river  is  Kagiwegwon,  or 
Raven's-wing  or  Quill,  which  is  accurately  translated  by  the  term  Aile 
de  Corbeau,  but  it  is  improperly  called  Crow-wing.  The  Chippewa  term 
for  crow  is  andaig,  and  the  French,  corneille,— terms  which  are  appro- 
priately applied  to  another  stream,  nearer  St.  Anthon3''s  Falls." 

Mrs.  E,  Steele  PeaJce,  widow  of  an  early  missionary  in  1856-61  to  the 
Ojibways  at  the  mission  stations  of  Gull  Lake  and  Crow  Wing,  wrote 
the  Brainerd  Dispatch,  September  22. 
■ae  of  Crow  Wing  river:  "Where  the 
island  in  the  shape  of  a  crow's  wing, 
and  the  town." 

frequent  throughout  the  United 
th 


r  of  her 

1911,  concerning  the  aboriginal 

river  joins  the  Mississippi  was 

which  gave  the  name  to  the  ri' 

The  North  American 


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CROW  WING  COUNTY  155 

The  earliesi  record  of  a  trader  near  this  site  is  in  the  list  of  licenses 
granted  in  1826  by  Lawrence  Taliaferro,  as  Indian  agent,  one  of  these 
being  for  "Benjamin  F.  Baker,  Crow  Island,  Upper  Mississippi,"  in 
the  service  o£  the  American  Fur  Oampany  (Minnesota  in  Three  Cen- 
turies, 1908,  vol.  II,  p.  54).  Among  the  traders  licensed  in  1833-34, 
none  is  mentioned  for  that  post,  which  seems  to  have  been  abandoned. 

There  was  again  a  station  of  the  fur  traders  at  Crow  Wing,  facing 
the  northern  mouth  of  the  Crow  Wing  river,  "about  the  year  1837," 
and  it  became  a  few  years  later  "the  center  of  Indian  trading  for  all 
the  upper  country,  the  general  supply  store  being  located  at  this  place. 
...  In  1866,  the  settlement  and  village  contained  seven  families  of 
whites,  and  about  twenty-three  of  half-breeds  and  Chippewas,  with  a 
large  transient  population.  .  .  .  The  entire  population  was,  from  reliable 
estimates,  about  six  hundred.  .  .  .  Crow  Wing,  as  a  business  point,  has 
passed  away,  most  of  the  buildings  having  been  removed  to  Brainerd, 
and  the  remaining  ones  destroyed."  (History  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
Valley,  1881,  pages  637-8,) 

By  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  February  18.  1887,  which  was  ratified- 
by  the  vote  of  the  people  of  the  county  at  the  next  general  election,  the 
part  of  Crow  Wing  county  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  previously 
belonging  to  Cass  county,  was  annexed  to  this  county,  somewhat  more 
than  doubling  its  former  area. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  gathered  from  "History  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi  Valley,"  1881,  pages  637-659;  from  Anton  Mahlum, 
city  clerk  of  Brainerd,  Samuel  R.  Adair,  county  treasurer,  and  William 
H.  Andrews,  during  my  visit  in  Brainerd,  May,  1916;  and  by  corre- 
spondence from  John  F.  Smart,  former  county  auditor,  now  of  Fair- 
hope,  Alabama, 

AiLEN  township  was  named  for  its  first  settler,  a  pioneer  from  the 
eastern  states. 

Barrows  railway  station  and  the  Barrows  mine,  five  miles  southwest 
from  Brainerd,  are  named  for  W.  A.  Barrows,  Jr.,  of  Brainerd. 

Baxter  township  commemorates  the  late  Luther  Loren  Baxter,  of 
Fergus  Falls,  who  during  many  years  was  an  attorney  for  the  Northern 
Pacific  company.  He  was  born  in  Cornwall,  Vt.,  in  1832;  was  admitted 
to  practice  law,  1854,  and  soon  afterward  settled  in  Minnesota;  enlisted 
in  the  Fourth  Minnesota  regiment,  served  at  first  as  captain,  and  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel;  was  a  state  senator  in  I86S-8  and  1870-6, 
and  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  1869  and  1877-82;  was  judge 
in  the  Seventh  judicial  district,  1885-1911,  He  died  at  his  home  in  Fer- 
gus Falls,  May  23,  191S. 

Bay  Lake  township  received  its  name  from  its  large  lake,  which 
was  so  named  for  its  irregular  outline,  with  many  bays,  projecting 
points,  and  islands.     Its  Ojibway  name,  like  that  of  another  lake  of 


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156  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

similar  form  in  Aitkin  county,  was  Sisabagama  (accented  on  the  third 
syllable),  meaning,  according  to  Giliillan,  "Every-which-way  lake,  or 
the  lake  which  has  arms  running  in  all  directions." 

Brainerd,  founded  in  1870,  when  the  Northern  Pacific  survey  deter- 
mined that  the  crossing  of  the  Mississippi  should  be  here,  was  organized 
as  a  city  March  6,  1873;  but  an  act  of  the  legislature,  January  11,  1876, 
substituted  a  township  government.  It  again  became  a  city  Noveniber 
19,  1881.  "The  name  first  suggested  for  this  place  was  'Ogemaqua,'  in 
honor  of  Emma  Beaulieu,  a  woman  of  rare  personal  beauty,  to  whom 
the  Indians  gave  the  name  mentioned,  meaning  Queen,  or  Chief  Woman. 
The  present  name  was  chosen  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  J.  Gregory  Smith, 
first  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  Mrs.  Smith's 
family  name  being  Brainerd."   (History,  Upper  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  640.) 

Mrs.  Ann  Eliza  (Brainerd)  Smith  was  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Lawrence 
Brainerd,  of  St.  Albans,  Vt.  Her  husband,  John  Gregory  Smith  (b. 
1818,  d.  189!),  also  a  resident  of  St.  AJbans,  honored  by  the  name  of 
Gregory  Park  or  Square  in  Brainerd  and  by  Gregory  station  and  village 
■  in  Morrison  county,  was  governor  of  Vermont,  1863-65 ;  was  president 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  company,  1866-72 ;  and  later  was  president  of 
the  Vermont  Central  railroad  until  his  death.  Mrs.  Smith  was  author 
of  novels,  books  of  travel,  and  other  works.  Her  father,  Lawrence 
Brainerd  (b.  1794,  d.  1870),  was  a  director  of  the  St  Albans  Steamboat 
Company,  a  builder  and  officer  of  railroads  in  northern  Vermont,  a 
noted  abolitionist,  and  was  a  United  States  senator,  18S4-5. 

Portraits  of  Mrs.  Smith,  for  whom  Brainerd  was  named,  and  her 
father,  with  extended  biographic  notices,  are  in  "The  Genealogy  of  the 
Brainerd-Brainard  Family  in  America"  (three  volumes,  published  in 
1908),  The  biographic  sketch  of  her  is  in  Volume  II,  pages  162-3,  from 
which  the  following  is  quoted ;  "She  was  president  of  the  board  of 
managers  for  the  Vermont  woman's  exhibit  at  the  Centennial  Exposi- 
tion of  1876,  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  frequently  chosen  in  similar  capaci- 
ties as  a  representative  Vermont  woman.  Her  patriotic  feeling  was 
shown  in  the  Civil  War,  at  the  rebel  raid  on  St,  All>ans  and  the  plunder 
of  the  banks,  Oct.  19,  1864,  and  a  commission  as  Lieutenant-Colonel 
was  issued  to  her  for  gallantry  and  efficient  service  on  that  occasion  by 
Adjutant -General  P.  T.  Washburn."  She  was  born  in  St  Albans,  Vt, 
October  7,  1819;  and  died  at  her  home  there,  January  6,  1905. 

The  Northern  Pacific  railroad  ran  its  first  train  to  Brainerd,  a  special 
train,  on  March  11,  1871;  and  its  regular  passenger  service  began  the 
next  September.  The  first  passenger  train  from  the  Twin  Cities,  by  way 
of  Sauk  Rapids,  came  November  1,  1877.  Crow  Wing,  the  former  trad- 
ing post,  was  soon  superseded  by  Brainerd,  which  the  Ojibways  named 
"Oski-odena,  New  Town." 

Crosby,  a  mining  village  on  the  Cuyuna  Iron  Range  branch  of  the 
"Soo"  railway,  was  named  in  honor  of  George  H.  Crosby,  of  Duluth, 
manager  of  iron  mines. 


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CROW  WING  COUNTY  157 

CwW        twhpw  df       t         Idgth       t       fth 

ea  ly  I  d  H  g        d  t     i    g  p    t    f  th         m 

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atdw  mdb>       df      CI      Adra       fD      wdp      pert 

di  dm  f  th  g     and  f      1      d  g    U       wh 

ac    mp       dhm        myl         p      ptgtp  thth       ffimd 

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158  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Garmson  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Oscar  E.  Garrison,  a  land 
surveyor  and  civil  engineer,  who  was  born  at  Fort  Ann,  N.  Y.,  July  21, 
1S25,  and  died  on  his  farm  in  this  township,  April  2,  1886.  He  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1850;  explored  Lake  Minnetonka,  and  platted  the  village 
of  Wayzata  in  1854;  removed  to  St.  Cloud  in  1860;  served  in  tlie  Northern 
Rangers  against  the  Sioiix,  1862;  was  agent  of  the  United  States  Census, 
Department  of  Forestry,  1880,  examining  the  region  of  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi, on  which  his  observations  were  published  (49  pages)  in  the 
Ninth  Annua!  Report  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey.  He  took  his 
homestead  claim  here  in  1882. 

Ideal  township,  a  fancy  name,  was  originally  called  White  Fish,  for 
the  large  lake  of  that  name  comprised  almost  wholly  in  this  township. 

Ieonton  is  a  mining  and  railway  village  of  the  Cuyuna  Iron  Range. 

Jenkins  railway  village  and  township  were  named  for  George  W. 
Jenkins,  a  lumberman,  who  platted  this  village. 

Klondike  township  was  named  from  the  Klondike  pfacer-gold  region 
in  the  Yukon  district,  Canada,  discovered  in  1896,  which  took  its  name 
from  the  Klondike  river  (Indian,  "Tlirondiuk,  river  full  of  fish").  This 
name  was  adopted  inallusion  to  the  large  and  valuable  deposits  of  iron 
ore  in  the  Cuyuna  Iron  Range,  discovered  by  Cuyler  Adams  in  1895  as 
the  result  of  magnetic  surveys,  several  of  the  best  mining  locations  being 
in  this  township. 

Lake  Edward  township  bears  the  name  of  the  largest  one  of  its  num- 
erous lakes,  given  at  the  time  of  the  government  survey,  probably  in  honor 
of  a  member  of  the  surveying  party. 

Leaks,  a  station  of  the  Minnesota  International  railway  about  three 
miles  north  of  Brainerd,  was  named  for  John  Leaks,  a  locomotive  en- 
gineer of  that  railway. 

Little  Pine  township  received  its  name  for  its  lake  and  river  of  this 
name,  tributary  to  the  Pine  river. 

Long  Lake  township  received  its  name  from  its  Long  lake,  through 
which  the  Nokay  river  flows.  Our  name  of  this  lake  is  a  direct  transla- 
tion of  its  Ojibway  name,  "Gaginogumag  sagaiigim." 

Manganese,  a  mining  village  in  Wolford,  has  reference  to  its  man- 
ganiferous  iron  ores,  which  have  from  1  to  25  per  cent  of  manganese. 
These  mines  are  on  the  northern  border  of  this  Cuyuna  district. 

Maple  Grove  township  has  groves  of  sugar  maple,  interspersed  with 
the  other  timber  of  its  general  forest. 

Merhifield,  a  railway  village  seven  miles  north  of  Brainerd,  bears 
the  name  of  the  former  owner  of  its  site. 

Mission  township  and  its  two  Mission  lakes  were  named  for  an  early 
missionary  station  there  for  the  Ojibways. 

Nokay  Lake  township  has  the  lake  of  this  name  on  the  upper  course 
and  near  the  head  of  the  Nokasippi  or  Nokay  river,  as  it  is  spelled  on 
Nicollet's  map.     This  was  the  name  of  an  Ojibway  chief  and  noted 


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CROW  WING  COUNTY  159 

hunter,  whom  the  "Handbook  of  American  Indians"  (Part  II,  1910) 
mentions  as  follows  :  "A  chief  of  the  western  Chippewa  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  18th  century,  who  attained  some  celebrity  as  a  leader  and 
hunter.  The  chief  incident  of  his  life  relates  to  the  war  between  the 
Mdewakanton  [Sioux]  and  the  Chippewa  for  possession  of  the  banks 
of  the  upper  Mississippi.  In  1769,  the  year  following  the  battle  of  Crow 
Wing,  Minn., — where  the  Chippewa,  though  maintaining  their  ground, 
were  hampered  by  inferior  numbers, — they  determined  to  renew  the 
attack  on  the  Mdewakanton  with  a  larger  force.  This  war  party,  under 
the  leadership  of  Noka,  referred  to  as  'Old  Noka'  evidently  on  account 
of  his  advanced  age,  attacked  Shakopee's  vill^e  on  Minnesota  river,  the 
result  being  a  drawn  battle,  the  Chippewa  retiring  to  their  own  territory 
without  inflicting  material  damage  on  their  enemy."  Warren,  the  his- 
torian of  the  Ojibways,  wrote  of  Nokay's  skill  in  hunting  (M.  H.  S. 
Collections,  vol.  V,  page  266). 

Oak  Lawn  township  was  named  for  its  "oak  openings,"  tracts  occu- 
pied by  scattered  oak  trees  with  small  grassed  spaces,  somewhat  Hke 
a  prairie,  interrupting  the  general  woodland. 

Outing,  a  small  village  on  the  southeastern  shore  of  Crooked  lake, 
in  Emily  township,  was  platted  in  1907  by  William  H.  Andrews,  as  a  place 
for  "outings"  or  short  visits  of  city  people  and  sportsmen  in  summer. 

Pelican  township  was  named  for  its  large  Pelnan  hke  which  was 
first  mapped  by  the  United  Statei;  E,o\errimcnt  sur\e\s  about  the  year 
1860  The  remarkably  fine  group  of  lar^e  lakes  m  thi'  count)  between 
Gull  and  White  Fish  lakes  was  represented  on  earlier  maps  only  bv  several 
quite  small  lakes  one  of  which  is  named  Lake  Taliaferro  on  Nicollet  s 
map  in  honor  of  the  Indian  agent  at  Mendota  As  Pelican  lake  is  the 
largest  in  this  group  it  mav  be  thought  to  le  the  me  so  designated  It 
IS  translated  from  the  Ojibwaj  name  gnen  bj  Gilfillan  as  Shede  sagau 
gun  Pelican  lake  I  ongfellow  s  Song  of  Hiawatha  spells  this  Ojibway 
word  Shada  which  las  the  long  a  sound  in  both  syllables  The  pelican 
our  largest  bird  species  of  Minnesota  was  formerly  common  or  frequent 
here  as  attested  by  its  name  given  to  mers  lakes  and  islands 

Pbqiot  a  railwaj  Milage  in  Siblej  township  bears  the  name  of  a 
former  tribe  of  Algonquian  Indians  in  eastern  Connecticut.  This  village 
is  the  sole  instance  of  its  use  as  a  geographic  name. 

pEKEY  Lake  township,  and  its  lake  of  this  name  probably  commemo- 
rate an  early  lumberman. 

Platte  Lake  township  received  its  name  from  the  lake  at  its  southeast 
corner,  the  central  and  largest  one  of  a  group  of  several  lakes  forming 
the  headwaters  of  Platte  river.  This  is  a  French  word,  meaning  flat 
The  translation  of  the  Ojibway  name  of  this  lake,  according  to  Gilfillan, 
is  "Hump-as-made-by-a-man-lying-on-h is4iands-and-kn ees." 

Rabbit  Lake  township  similarly  took  the  name  of  its  Rabbit  lake,  the 
head  of  Rabbit  river,  a  short  tributary  of  the  Mississippi.    The  Ojibway 


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160  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

name  of  the  lake,  given  by  Gilfillan,  is   "Wabozo-wakaiiguni   sagaiigun, 
Eabbit's-House  lake." 

RivERTON  is  a  mining  village  of  the  Guyana  Iron  Range,  beside  Little 
Rabbit  lake,  through  which  Rabbit  river  flows  just  before  joining  the 
Mississippi. 

Roosevelt  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  then 
President  of  the  United  States. 

Ross  Lake  township  and  its  lake  of  this  name  are  in  honor  of  a  pio- 
neer lumberman  there, 

St.  Mathias  township  was  named  from  its  Catholic  church,  dedi- 
cated to  Christ's  disciple  who  was  chosen  by  lot  to  be  one  of  the  twelve 
apostles,  in  the  place  of  Judas. 

Sibley  township  was  named  from  its  Lake  Sibley,  a  name  given  by 
Nicollet  on  his  map,  published  in  1843,  in  honor  of  Henry  Hastings 
Sibley,  for  whom  also  SiWey  county  was  named. 

Smiley  township,  having  a  common  English  or  American  surname, 
remains  of  undetermined  derivation. 

Timothy  township,  at  first  called  Clover,  received  the  popular  name 
of  a  European  species  of  grass,  much  cultivated  in  Europe  and  America 
for  hay,  more  commonly  called  "herd's  grass"  in  New  England.  The 
seed  of  this  grass  was  carried  from  New  England  to  Maryland  about 
the  year  1720  by  Timothy  Hanson,  whence  came  its  prevalent  American 
name.  It  grows  very  luxuriantly  under  cultivation  in  Minnesota,  and 
frequently  is  adventive  by  roadsides  and  about  logging  camps. 

Watertown  has  many  lakes  and  the  Pine  river.  In  the  central  part 
of  the  west  half  of  this  township,  the  river  flows  into  the  west  side  of 
Cross  lake  and  out  from  its  east  side,  whence  the  lake  received  this 
name.  It  is  translated  from  the  Ojibway  name,  meaning  the  same  as 
Lake  Bemidji,  "the  lake  which  the  river  flows  directly  across."  This 
lake  was  named  Lake  Davenport  on  Nicollet's  map  in  honor  of  Col. 
William  Davenport,  of  the  United  States  Army,  for  whom  also  a  town- 
ship in  this  county  is  named. 

WoLFORD  township,  recently  organized,  comprising  the  mining  villages 
of  Manganese  and  Iron  Mountain,  at  the  north  edge  of  the  CujTjna 
Range,  was  named  in  honor  of  Robert  Wolford,  a  pioneer  farmer  there. 

Lakes  and  Steeams. 
The  preceding  pages  have  noticed  a  number  of  the  lakes  and  streams, 
including  several  given  by  Nicollet's  map.  Other  names  thus  applied 
by  Nicollet  are  Lake  Plympton,  now  called  Eush  lake,  crossed  by  the  Pine 
river  between  White  Fish  and  Cross  lakes,  in  honor  of  Captain  Joseph 
Plympton  (b.  1787,  d.  I860),  who  was  commandant  of  Fort  Snelling  in 
the  years  1837-4-1;  Lake  Gratiot  now  Upper  Hay  lake,  a  mile  east  of 
Jenkins  village,  named  in  honor  of  Gen.  Charles  Gratiot  (b,  1788,  d. 
1855),  in  charge  of  the  V.  S.  engineer  bureau  and  inspector  of  West 
Point ;  Manido  river,  the  Ojibway  name  for  Spirit  river,  outflowing  from 


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CROIV  WING  COUNTY  161 

Lake  Gratiot  to  White  Fish  lake;  Lake  Stewart,  in  Timothy  township, 
for  the  gallant  U.  S.  naval  officer,  Charles  Stewart  (b.  1778,  d.  1869), 
famous  for  his  services  in  the  War  of  1812;  and  Lakes  Enke  and  Oianehe, 
now  respectivelv  Lakes  Washburn  and  Roosevelt  the  former  wholly  and 
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Gilfillan,  is  Ga-manoramiganjikag  sagangun,  Wild  Rice  lake.  Gull 
lake,  a  translation  from  the  Ojibways,  has  been  more  fully  noticed  in 
the  chapter  on  Cass  county. 

In  this  region  of  plentiful  game,  finny,  furred,  and  feathered,  Lake 
Hubert,  and  the  adjoining  village  of  this  name,  may  well  have  been  so 
designated  in  honor  of  St.  Hubert,  the  patron  saint  of  huntsmen. 

An  enumeration  of  other  lakes  and  streams  in  this  county,  not  pre- 
viously noticed,  is  as  follows,  taking  first  the  part  southeast  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  order  of  townships  from  south  to  north,  and  of  ranges  from 
east  to  west,  and  next,  in  the  same  order,  taking  the  northwest  part  of 
the  county.  Personal  names,  applied  to  many  of  these  lakes,  arc  nearly 
all  commemorative  of  early  settlers. 

Camp  or  Crooked  lake,  Erskine,  Mud,  Bass,  Rock,  and  Bull  Dog 
lakes,  in  Roosevelt  township. 

Sebie,  Mud,  and  Crow  Wing  (or  Thunder)  lakes,  in  Fort  Ripley 
township. 

Clearwater,  Miller,  Barber,  and  Holt  lakes,  in  Garrison. 

Chrysler  lake,  in  Maple  Grove  township. 

Russell  lake,  in  Long  Lake  township,  named  for  T.  P.  Russell,  a  setiler 
there  at  its  north  side. 

Buffalo  creek,  in  Crow  Wing  township,  named  for  buffaloes  frequent- 
ing its  oak  openings  and  small  tracts  of  prairie. 


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162  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

A  second  and  larger  Clearwater  lake,  Crooked,  Hanks,  Portage,  Rice, 
and  Birch  lakes,  and  a  small  Long  lake  in  section  1,  Bay  Lake  townsliip. 

Eagle,  Pointon,  Perch,  and  Grave  lakes,  in  Nokay  Lake  township. 

Sand  and  Whitely  creeks,  and  Rice  or  Whitely  lake,  in  Oak  Lawn 
township. 

Agate  and  Black  lakes,  Cedar  c  eek  a  d  lake  SI  iiie  or  Shirt  lake,  and 
Hamlet,    Portage,   Rice,   and   Reno   lakes  Deerwood,     The   last   was 

named  in  honor  of  Gen.  Jesse  Lee  Reno  who  served  in  the  Mexican  and 
Civil  wars,  and  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Soutl  Mountain,  Md.,  Septem- 
ber 14,  1862. 

Manomin,  Portage,  Blackhoof,  Little  Rabbit,  Rice,  Crocker,  and 
Wolf  lakes,  in  Kiondike. 

Black  Bear  lake,  in  Wolford. 

Little  Sand  or  Perch  lake.  White  Sand,  Red  Sand,  and  Whipple  lakes, 
in  Baxter,  the  first  township  northwest  ot  the  Mississippi.  The  last  is 
in  honor  of  the  eminent  Bishop  Whipple,  under  whose  direction  and 
care  were  many  missions  for  the  Ojibways  and  Sioux  in  Minnesota, 
including  the  Ojibway  mission  of  St.  Columba,  at  Gull  lake  in  the  adjoin- 
ing edge  of  Cass  cotinty. 

Long  lake,  Love  lake,  Bass,  Carp  (or  Mud),  Gilbert,  and  Hartley 
lakes,  in  Township  134,  Range  28  and  the  east  half  of  Range  29. 

The  two  Mission  lakes,  named  for  an  early  Ojibway  mission  near 
ttiem,  and  Perch,  Silver,  Bass,  Fawn,  Spider,  and  Camel  lakes,  in  T. 
135  N.,  R.  27  W. 

Markee  and  Twin  lakes,  Garden,  Rice,  Clark,  Hubert  ind  Little 
Hubert,  Gladstone,  Mollie,  and  Crystal  lakes,  in  Lake  Edward  township 

Cullen,  Fawn,  Fish  Trap  (or  Marsh),  Roy,  and  Mud  lakes   m  Sradev 

Nelson  lake,  in  Dean  Lake  township,  named  for  H.  M.  Nelson  the 
first  settler  having  a  family  in  that  township. 

Bass  lake.  Fool's  lake,  and  Indian  Jack  lake,  in  Perry  Lake  township 

Lizard,  Sandbar  or  Horseshoe,  and  Bass  lakes,  and  the  northern  Mis- 
sion lake,  in  Mission  township. 

Long   Schaffer   and  Upper  Cullen  lakes,  in  Pelican. 

Twin  lakes  in  Sibley 

Island,  Mud,  and  Rogers  lakes.  Upper  Dean  lake.  Twin  lakes,  and 
Stark  lake,  in  Ross  Lake  township. 

Grass,  Pickerel,  and  Trout  lakes,  Dolney's  lake.  Mud,  Bass,  and  Adney 
lakes,  in  Fairfield 

Ox,  Island  Hen  Rush,  Daggett,  Bass,  Goodrich,  O'Brien,  Phelps, 
Big  Bird  and  Greer  lakes,  in  Watertown,  with  two  Pine  lakes,  one  in  the 
northeast  part  ot  this  township,  and  the  other  in  sections  32  to  34. 

Big  Trout,  Mud,  Bertha,  Pig,  Star,  Bass,  Kimball,  Long,  and  Clear 
lakes,  in  White  Fish  township. 

The  Upper  and  Lower  Hay  lakes,  and  Nelson  lake,  in  Jenkins. 

Little  Pine  lake,  Low's,  Duck,  Moulton,  Bass,  and  Birchdale  lakes, 
in   Little  Pine  township. 


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CROW  WING  COUNTY  163 

Papoose,  Btitterfield,  and  Dahler  lakes,  in  Emily  township. 

Mitchell,  Eagle,  East  Fox,  West  Fox,  and  Kego  lakes,  in  Allen,  the 
last  an  Ojibway  name  meaning  Fish  lake. 

Jale,  Big  Rice,  and  Swede  lakes,  in  the  east  half  of  T.  138,  R  29,  the 
most  northwestern  in  this  county. 

The  Mississippi  has  "an  island  in  the  mouth  o£  Pine  river,  well  tim- 
bered with  pine,  dm,  and  maple,"  as  described  by  Schoolcraft  in  1820; 
French  rapids,  shown  on  Nicollet's  map,  about  three  miles  north  of 
Brainerd;  Whitely  island,  close  below  these  rapids;  three  or  four  other 
small  islands  between  this  and  the  Crow  Wing  river ;  and,  at  the  mouth 
of  that  river.  Crow  Wing  island.  Another  name  sometimes  given  to 
the  last  is  McArthur's  island,  as  on  the  map  accompanying  the  chapter 
for  this  county  by  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  having  leference 
to  a  Scotch  trader,  named  McArthur. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  Buffalo  creek  and  the  mouth  of  Crow  Wing 
river,  as  Schoolcraft  wrote  in  1820,  "the  Buffalo  Plains  commence  and 
continue  downward,  on  boih  banks  of  the  river,  to  the  falls  of  St.  An- 
thony. These  plains  are  elevated  about  sixty  feet  above  the  summer 
level  of  the  water,  and  consist  of  a  sandy  alluvion  cove'-ed  with  rank 
grass  and  occasional  clumps  of  the  dwarf  black  oak." 

Ah  REN  s  Hill. 
A  remarkable  series  of  graveJ  knolls  and  ridges,  called  kames  and 
eskers,  borders  the  Mississippi  on  its  northwest  side  at  Brainerd  and  for 
a  distance  of  about  three  miles  up  the  river.  Its  culmination  and  north- 
ern end  is  a  hill  that  rises  about  175  feet  above  both  the  river  on  its 
east  side  and  Gilbert  lake  on  the  west,  being  100  feet  higher  than  the 
mainly  level  sand  and  gravel  plain  of  the  river  valley.  This  high  and 
short  esker  was  named  Ahrens  hill  in  the  Geological  Survey  (vol.  IV, 
1899,  p.  73),  for  Charles  Ahrens,  the  farmer  of  its  southern  and  western 

CuvuNA  Iron  Range. 
The  origin  of  the  name  of  this  belt  of  iron  ore  deposits  has  been 
noted  for  the  village  of  Cuyuna,  in  the  preceding  list;  and  the  date  of 
discovery  of  these  beds  of  ore  by  Cuyler  Adams,  in  iS95,  was  mentioned 
in  the  notice  of  Klondike  township.  Mining  and  shipments  of  ore  from 
the  Cuyuna  range  were  begun  in  the  years  1910  to  1912,  and  its  production 
in  1915  was  1,137,043  tons.  The  explored  extent  of  this  iron  ore  district, 
lying  in  Crow  Wing  and  Aitkin  counties,  has  no  prominent  hills  or  high- 
lands, and  only  very  scanty  outcrops  of  the  bed-rocks,  which,  with  the 
ore  deposits,  are  deeply  covered  by  the  glacial  and  modified  drift. 


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DAKOTA  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  October  27,  1849,  was  named  for  the  Dakota 
people,  meaning  an  alliance  or  league.  Under  this  name  are  comprised  a 
large  number  of  allied  and  affiliated  Indian  tribes,  who  originally  occu- 
pied large  parts  of  Minnesota  and  adjoining  states.  The  Dakotas  called 
themselves  collectively  by  this  name,  but  they  have  been  more  frequently 
termed  Sioux,  this  being  a  contraction  from  the  appellation,  Nadouesioux, 
given  with  various  spellings  by  Radisson.  Hennepin,  and  LaSalle,  a  term 
evidently  of  Algonquian  origin,  adopted  by  the  early  French  explorers 
and  traders. 

Radisson  says  {Voyages,  p.  154)  that  the  first  part  of  the  Algonquian 
name  for  the  Dakotas,  spelled,  in  the  translation  of  his  manuscript, 
Nadoneceronons,  means  an  enemy. 

Rev.  Moses  N.  Adams  informed  me  that  the  Dakotas  dislike  to  be 
called  Sioux,  and  much  prefer  their  own  collective  name,  borne  by  this 
county,  which  implies  friendship  or  even  brotherly  lo^e. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

For  the  origins  and  meanings  of  the  names  of  townships,  villages, 
post  offices,  lakes,  creeks,  etc.,  in  this  county,  we  are  inatnly  indebted  to 
its  three  published  histories ;  "Dakota  County,  Its  Past  and  Pres  n 
Geographical,  Statistical,  and  Historical,"  by  W.  H.  Mitchell  1868  n 
162  pages;  "History  of  Dakota  County,"  by  George  E.  Wa  er  and 
Charles  M.  Foote,  1881,  551  pages;  and  "History  of  Dakota  and  Toolhtie 
Counties,"  edited  by  Franklyn  Curtis s-Wedge,  1910,  two  volume  the 
first,  in  662  pages,  being  for  this  county.  Especial  acknowledgment 
due  to  the  excellent  contribution  by  the  late  Judge  Francis  lu.  Crosby, 
of  Hastings,  entitled  "Origin  of  Names,"  in  the  third  of  these  histories, 
pages  131-133. 

BoRNSViLLE  township,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named  for  its 
first  settlers,  "William  Bums  and  family,  consisting  of  his  wife  and 
five  sons,  who  emigrated  from  Canada  the  same  year  [1853],  He  settled 
in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  town,  near  the  mouth  of  Credit  river." 

C  Roc      t  r  g     ■    d  A     '1  6    18"8    w  m  d  tl 


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DAKOTA  COUNTY  165 

Cannon  river.  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell's  Final  Report  of  the  Geology  of 
Minnesota,  in  Volume  II,  18S8,  has  a  good  description  and  historical 
notice  of  Castle  Rock,  pages  76-79  in  Chapter  III,  "The  Geology  of  Dakota 
County,"  with  three  pictures  of  it  from  photographs.  Its  height  was  44 
feet  above  the  ground  at  is  base  and  70  feet  aboie  an  adjoining  hollow 
but  the  slender  pillar  19  feet  high  firming  its  upper  part  has  snre 
fallen,  about  twenty  years  ago 

Douglass  townsh  p  estabh-ihed  April  C  1S5S  was  named  for  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  the  statesman  lis  eariieat  spelling  bj  the  petitioiers  and 
county  comnussicners  has  been  continued  though  differing  from  that 
of  the  great  politician  and  orator  He  is  also  commemorated  \>\  the  name 
of  Douglas  county 

Eagan  township  established  by  legislatne  act  m  1861  waf  named  fir 
Patrick  Eagin   one  of  the  first  settlers   coming  in  1851 

Empire  was  named  for  Empire  N  Y  the  native  place  of  Mrs  A  J 
Irving,  wife  of  one  of  the  early  settlers  Th  s  t  mnship  organized  dnd 
named  Maj  11  18^8  hid  prei  oush  an  early  neighborhood  settle  nent 
which  in  1854  55  was  called    Empire  City 

EuKEKA  township    organized  May  11    1858  h  m  k 

word,  mean  ng    I  have  found  it'      This  was  t  m  m  mb 

of  its  "Indiana  settlement,"  when  they  first  ar  8  4 

Greenvale,  also  organized  May  11,  1858,  '        b  d  me 

from  the  name  given  to  a  Sunday  School  \  h         p 

township.    The  name  was  doubtless  inspired  b  p  d 

ings." 

Hampton  township,  established  April  6,  18  8  d  p 

of  that  name  in  Connecticut.    This  appellation  w         gg       d  b    N    h  n 
je!  Martin  in  honor  of  his  birthplace." 

Hastings,  the  county  seat,  platted  as  a  vill  g  85     nd  p         d 

as  a  city  in  185?,  was  named  in   drawing  lot    b  p     p 

this  second  name  of  Henry  Hastings  Sibley,  g  d  g 

having  been  his  preference.     "Judge  Solomo        b  D  i 

studied   law   in   Massachusetts   with   Judge   H         g      wh  m   h     g 
admired,  and  gave  this  name  to  his  son." 

Before  the  platting  and  naming  of  Hast    g      h        ca        h  d  b 
known    during    thirty-three   years    as    Olive        G  n     gn       n 

changed  to   "Olive   Grove,"     The   origin  of  m  d  b 

John  H.  Case  in  Volume  XV  of  the  Minne         H  S 

lections   (page  377),  as  follows:     "The  site  H         g    wa 

earlier  called  Oliver's  Grove,  after  Lieut.  W        m  G    O  wh     vi 

ascending  tiie  Mississippi  with  one  or  more  k       b  turn    o 

1819,  but  was  prevented  from  going  farther  b        g    g  h     b     d 

of  the  river  opposite  to  this  city.    The  boat  w       p    b  b     run 

up  to  the  outlet  of  Lake  Rebecca,  to  be  out  of  the  »aj  of  the  ice  when  the 
river  broke  up  in  the  spring  of  1820.    Lieutenant  Oliver  was  on  his  way 


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166  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

from  Fort  Crawford  at  Prairie  du  Chien  with  supplies  for  the  soldiers 
at  St,  Peter's  camp,  now  Fort  Snelling',  among  whom  was  the  first  settler 
of  Hastings,  Joe  Brown,  the  drtimmer  boy,  then  about  fourteen  years  of 
age." 

Invek  Grove  township  was  organized  May  11,  1858.  "The  town  ivas 
named  by  John  McGroarty,  the  name  Inver  Grove  being  given  in  recollec- 
tion of  a  place  in  Ireland  from  which  many  of  the  settlers  came." 

Lakeville  township,  established  April  6,  1858,  was  named  for  Prairie 
lake,  which  about  fifteen  years  ago  was  renamed  Lake  Marion,  as  is 
further  noted  in  the  list  of  lakes  of  this  county. 

Lebanon  received  its  n^me  "from  Lebanon  N  H  from  whence  came 
Charles  and  H   J   VerriU   early  settlers       It  was  organized  Ma>   11   1858 

Maeshan  township  was  named  for  Michael  Marsh  a  d  1  s  wife 
\nn  Previous  to  its  organization  May  11  1858  it  was  knoun  as  Bell 
wood  for  Joseph  Bell  who  took  a  claim  there  m  1854  It  then  had  a 
>imall  tillage  called  Bellwood  with  the  first  hotel  of  the  township  and 
a  Catholic  church    but  the  site    soon  was  abandoned 

Mendota  township  established  m  April  1858  bears  a  Siouj.  name 
meaning  the  mouth  of  a  nver  because  here  the  Minneiota  r!\er  joms 
the  Mississippi  This  name  wa=  adopted  about  the  year  18>7  instead 
of  the  former  name  "^t  Peter  s  taken  fro  n  the  ^t  Peter  ^  or  Minnesota 
ruer  as  appl  ed  to  the  earK  settlement  of  traders  pposite  ti  Fort 
Snell  ng 

NmiNGEE  township  establi'^hed  ^pril  6  185S  was  named  fron  its 
earlier  city  of  Nminger  which  was  platted  in  the  summer  of  1856  by 
John  Niniiger  for  whom  it  was  named  He  resided  in  Pennsyhania 
and  was  a  brother  in  law  of  Governor  Ramsey  In  the  winter  of  I'^V  8 
an  act  of  incorporation  of  tl  is  city  was  passed  by  the  leg  alature  In  the 
sprmg  of  1858  when  it  reached  the  heiaht  ot  its  prngre=  Nininger 
numbered  nearlj  i£  i  ot  quite  1 000  inhabitants  and  ca^t  a  vote  of 
over  20O 

Ra*<dciph  townshp  estabh  hed  ^prd  20  18  8  was  then  named 
Richmond  n  honor  of  John  Richmond  the  fir'it  settler  w  thm  its  limits 
This  name  was  rejected  September  18  18''8  because  there  wa  anot!  er 
Rii-hmtnd  m  the  state  and  on  October  30  18S8  it  was  reua  tied  Ran 
dolph  D  B  Hulburt  an  admirer  of  the  Virginia  statesman  John 
Randolph  sn^ested  that  his  distinguished  surname  be  g  en  to  the 
town  This  was  Randolph  ot  Roanoke  as  he  was  generalli  known 
who  was  bom  in  177c,  and  died  m  1831 

Ravenna  township  separated  from  the  city  of  Hastiiita  on  June  S 
IBcO  was  named  b>  Albert  T  Norton  for  Ravenna  Ohio  where  his 
wife  had  taught  'icho  1 

Rc^EMOONT  township  established  April  6  1858  was  named  hv  Andrew 
Keegan  and  Hugh  Dtrham  trun  the  picturesque  vilhge  of  thit  name 
in  Ireland." 


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DAKOTA  COUNTY  167 

SciOTA  tnwnship,  organized  May  11,  1858,  "was  named  from  Sciota, 
Ohio,"  as  related  by  Judge  Loren  W.  Collins. 

South  St.  Paul  and  West  St.  Paul,  recently  incorporated  cities, 
received  their  names  from  their  situation  "in  reference  t&  tlie  city  of  St. 
Paul."  West  St.  Paul  township  was  organized  May  11,  1858,  and  by  an 
act  of  the  legislature,  approved  March  9,  1874,  its  village  (as  it  then  was) 
of  this  name  was  detached  from  Dakota  county  and  annexed  to  Ramsey 
county,  being  made  a  part  of  St.  Paul. 

Vermillion  township,  organized  April  5,  1858,  was  named  for  the 
Vermillion  river,  which  bears  a  translation  of  its  Sioux  nam'',  as  more 
fully  noted  on  an  ensuing  p:^e. 

Watekfoed  township,  established  April  20,  1858,  "received  its  name 
from  the  fact  that  there  was  a  ford  across  Cannon  river  within  its  'imils. 
This  ford  was  on  the  old  trail  from  St.  Paul  to  Faribault." 

The  villages  of  this  county,  in  alphabetic  order,  are  as  follows  : 

Castle  Rock,  a  railway  station,  named  like  its  township. 

Etter,  3  railway  station,  named  for  Alexander  Etter,  its  first  merchant 

Farmington,  incorporated  in  March,  1872,  an  important  railway  town, 
"received  its  name  from  its  situation  in  a  district  e.tduaively  devoted 
to  farming." 

Hampton  and  Inver  Grove  railway  villages  are  named  for  their  town- 

Lakevtlle,  named  like  the  township,  received  its  first  settlers  in  1355. 
When  the  Hastings  and  Dakota  railroad  was  built  there,  in  1369,  a  new 
village  site  was  chosen,  at  first  called  Fairfield.  This  village  superseded 
the  older  Lakeville  and  adopted  that  name  in  its  act  of  incorporation, 
March  28,  187a 

Mendota,  the  oldest  village  of  this  county,  gave  its  name  to  a  town- 

MiESViLLE  was  named  for  John  Mies,  by  whom  this  little  village  was 
founded  in  1874. 

New  Trier  was  "named  for  Trier,  Germany,  the  native  place  of  some 
of  the  early  settlers  in  this  vicinity." 

NiCOLB  a  railway  station,  was  named  for  John  Nicols,  of  St.  P.iul, 
the  former  owne    of   is  «ite 

NINI^CEH  once  a  large  \  illage  and  mcorporated  as  a  c  t\  b  rt  now 
nearly  deserted    has  been  noticed  for  the  township  named  fro  n  ir 

P  ivE  Bend  on  the  Mis«  ssipp  river  includes  the  site  of  the  ^illaee  of 
a  Sioux  chief  Medicine  Bottle  who  seceded  from  the  Kaposia  illage 
"It  IS  named  from  the  fact  that  p  ne  trees  stand  on  the  banks  where  the 
river  make=  a  dec  ded  turn  or  bend  This  is  al'io  the  name  of  a  station 
on  tl  e  upland    Df  the  new  St    Paul  Southern  electr  c  ra  lwa\ 

Randolph    a  ralway  j-unction   is  named  for    (s  township 

Rich  \  alley  was  named     from  its  location  in  a  valley  of  ^ery  fertile 


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168  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

RosEMOUNT,  Vermillion,  and  Watehford,  railway  villages,  bear  the 
names  of  their  townships. 

Wescott,  a  railway  station,  usually  spelled  Westcott,  was  named  for 
a  prominent  pioneer,  James  Wescott,  who  settled  there  in  1854.  He  served 
in  the  First  Minnesota  heavy  artillery  in  the  civil  war ;  was  treasurer  of 
this  county  in  1860-62;  and  died  on  his  farm  near  this  station,  May  4,  1910. 

Lakes  and  Steeams. 
Three  small  lakes  lying  within  about  a  mile  south  of  the  village  of 
Mendota  were  named  lakes  Qiarlotte,  Lucy,  and  Abigail,  on  the  earliest  map 
of  the  vicinity  of  Fort  St.  Anthony,  which  in  1825  was  renamed  Fort  Snell- 
ing.  These  names  were  given  respectively  in  honor  of  the  wives  of  Lieu- 
tenant Nathan  Qark,  Captain  George  Gooding,  and  Colonel  Josiah  Snell- 
ing.     None  of   these  names   is   retained   at  the  present  time.     The   most 

wh 

G  m 

D  P  thakthwamdfi  M  gil 

d  Ch  m  kn 

g 
O      ry  m 

B  D  g  m  m  M 

g  ffl 

B         D 


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DAKOTA  COUNTY 


J 

or  boat- 

d 

A    1 

rs  Park, 

tt 

r 

the  vil- 
■,  a  bio- 

f  th 

reeently 

1     1  ng  b    g    1 

thw    t  of  Hast- 

i    f  th    M          pp 

w           m  ([,  a?  fold 

R  b          All          d 

g!  t         i        pioneer 

del      h           t  m 

dt     th         =t. 

t    dg      f  th    M 

pp    b  tt  mlaud,  is 

gl    m  th    b 

f  th         er  bluffs. 

th       p            f  fi  1 

d  P   kerel  lake, 

d     t  p   k      I 

G  F  g           1 

ed       f     m  on  its 

b     fi  h  1  k  m 

ml    ly   f       tig 

R  g       ]  k  n, 

th      t     d 

\  11        1  k     q    t      m  11  t         18   E      k  d  th     Vermillion 

h   h  I  h  lly       th  ty  tit         ti    t  published 

by  N      11  t      ro  p        1843      f  th     S  m        It         ^      w      probably 

f    m  th         y  b   ght     d      d  g       1      d      h       bt       d  b    the  Sious 

m       f  CI  mn  )   R     k        M      h        m         {  Ilj        t  d  n  ensuing 

p  g         d     f     th  t      p      f  th     St    P  t  d  t        b     de  or  near 

th  fth 

Th    1  p    t     f  th    V    m  11  ft      t         1      Ih    Mississippi 

bottomland,  there  flowing  in  two  streams  northwestward  and  southeast- 
ward to  the  great  river,  are  named  the  Vermillion  slough.  Four  miles 
southeast  of  Hastings,  this  slough  or  river  is  joined  by  the  Truedell 
slough,  named  for  a  pioneer  settler,  by  which  it  is  connected  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Thence  southeastward  these  two  rivers,  the  Vermillion  and  the 
Mississippi,  inclose  Prairie  island,  ten  miles  long,  Is^ng  mostly  in  Good- 
hue county,  under  which  its  name  and  history  are  again  noticed.  The 
name  is  a  translation  of  its  earliest  French  name,  Isle  Pel^e,  called  by 
Radisson  "the  first  landing  isle."  (Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collec- 
tions, vol.  X,  part  II,  pages  462-473,  with  a  map  of  this  island.) 

Dudley  island,  in  the  Mississippi  between  one  and  two  miles  east 
of  Hastings,  belonging  to  Ravenna  township,  was  named,  as  stated  by 
Irving  Todd,  Sr,,  for  John  Dudley,  of  Prescott,  Wis.,  owner  of  sawmills 
adjoining  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  river. 

Belanger  island,  in  Nininger,  south  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, bears  the  name  of  the  first  settler  in  this  township,  a  French 
Canadian,  whose  cabin  was  on  the  bank  of  Spring  lake. 

Pike  island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  adjoining  Men- 
dota,  is  named  for  Lieutenant  (later  General)  Zebulon  M.  Pike,  who  in 
1805  on  the  west  end  of  this  island  made  a  treaty  with  the  Sioux  for  the 


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170  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

tract  on  which  Fort  St.  Anthony,  later  named  Fort  Snelling,  was  built 
in  the  years  1820-24. 

Kaposia,  the  village  of  the  successive  hereditary  Sioux  chiefs,  named 
Little  Crow,  was  situated  from  1837  to  1862  on  a  part  of  the  site  of  South 
Park,  a  suburb  of  South  St.  Paul,  Previously,  in  the  time  of  the  expedi- 
tions of  Pike,  Cass,  and  Long,  this  movable  Indian  village  had  been  located 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi,  as  noted  for  Ramsey  county.  In  1820 
and  til!  1833  or  later,  it  was  on  the  upper  side  of  Dayton's  bluff,  within 
the  area  of  St.  Paul;  but  earlier,  during  a  dozen  years  or  more,  in  1805 
and  in  1817,  it  was  at  the  Grand  Marais.  one  to  two  miles  south  of  that 
blutl.  Concerning  the  name  Keating  wrote;  "The  Indians  designate 
this  band  by  the  name  of  Kapoja,  which  implies  that  they  are  deemed 
lighter  and  more  active  than  the  rest  of  the  nation."  (Minnesota  in 
Three  Centuries,  vol.  I,  pages  366-368,1 

Hills  and  Rucks. 

The  hilly  tracts  or  belts  of  Dakota  county  consist  of  morainic  glacial 
drift,  amassed  in  abundant  knolls,  short  ridges,  and  small  hills,  of  which 
only  a  few  rise  to  such  prominence  that  they  are  named. 

The  most  conspicuous  hill,  rising  to  about  1175  feet  above  the  sea, 
being  about  a  hundred  feet  above  any  point  in  the  view  around  it,  is  Buck 
hill,  near  Crystal  lake,  described  as  follows  in  the  History  of  this 
county  published  in  1881 ;  "At  the  west  end  of  the  lake  is  a  high  hill,  .  .  , 
called  by  the  early  settlers  'Buck  Hill.'  From  the  top  oi  this  high  emin- 
ence the  Indians  would  watch  the  deer  as  they  came  to  drink  from  the 
cool  waters  of  the  lake." 

Another  conspicuous  height,  near  Mendota,  is  commonly  called  Pilot 
Knob ;  but  on  the  oldest  map  of  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Snelling,  before 
mentioned,  it  is  more  properly  named  Pilot  hill. 

In  section  1,  Marshan,  are  two  prominent  drift  hiils,  which  have  been 
long  known  as  "the  Mounds." 

Besides  the  Castle  Rock,  in  the  township  so  named,  this  county  has 
several  other  somewhat  similar  castlelike  or  columnar  rock  masses.  One 
of  these,  about  ten  miles  north  of  the  Castle  Rock,  is  called  Castle  Hill 
on  Nicollet's  map,  but  since  the  settlement  of  the  county  it  is  named 
Lone  Rock.  About  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  this  is  a  Chimney  Rock. 
Again,  about  eight  miles  distant  east -southeast  from  the  last,  \here  is 
another  and  more  remarkable  Chimney  Rock,  This  is  in  the  east  edge 
of  section  31,  Marshan,  about  seven  miles  south  of  Hastings.  As  de- 
scribed in  1905  by  the  present  writer  (Bulletin  of  the  Minnesota  Academy 
of  Sciences,  vol,  IV,  page  302,  with  a  view  from  a  photograph  which  well 
shows  the  reason  for  its  name),  this  Chimney  Rock  "is  the  most  pictur- 
esque and  perfect  example  of  columnar  rock  weathering  in  Minnesota. 
...  It  is  a  vertical  pillar,  measuring  M  feet  in  height  and  about  6  and 
12  feet  in  its  less  and  greater  diameters,  being  no  thicker  near  the  base 
than  in  its  upper  part" 


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DODGE  COUNTY 

Established  February  20,  1855,  this  county  received  its  name  in  honor 
of  Henry  Dodge,  governor  of  Wisconsin,  and  his  son,  Augustus  C. 
Dodge,  of  Iowa. 

Henry  Dodge  was  born  in  Vincennes,  Indiana,  October  12,  1782;  and 
died  in  Burlington,  Iowa,  June  19,  1867.  He  served  in  the  war  of  !812 ; 
was  a  colonel  of  volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  1832 ;  commanded 
an  expedition  to  the  Rocky  mountains  in  1835 ;  was  governor  of  Wiscon- 
sin territory  and  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  1836-41 ;  delegate  in 
Congress  for  Wisconsin,  1842-6;  again  governor  of  that  territory,  184S-8; 
and  was  one  of  the  first  U.  S.  senators  from  the  state  of  Wisconsin, 
1848-57. 

Governor  Dodge  on  July  29,  1837,  at  Fort  Snelling,  then  in  Wisconsin, 
ma.de  a  treaty  with  the  Ojibways,  by  which  they  ceded  to  the  United 
States  all  their  pine  lands  and  agricultural  lands  on  the  upper  part  of 
the  St.  Croix  river  and  its  tributaries,  in  the  present  states  of  Wis- 
consin and  Minnesota.  The  tract  ceded  also  reached  west  to  include 
the  upper  part  of  the  basin  of  Rum  river,  and  onward  to  the  Mississippi 
between  Sauk  Rapids  and  the  mouth  of  Crow  Wing'  river.  In  Septem- 
ber of  the  same  year,  under  direction  of  Governor  Dodge,  about  twenty 
chiefs  and  braves  of  the  Sioux  went  with  the  agent.  Major  Taliaferro, 
to  the  city  of  Washington  and  there  made  a  treaty  ceding  all  their  Sands 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  together  with  the  islands  in  this  river.  By  these 
treaties  a  large  tract  of  eastern  Minnesota  (then  a  part  of  Wisconsin), 
including  the  sites  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony,  was  opened  to  white- 
settlement. 

Augustus  Caesar  Dodge  was  born  in  St.  Genevieve,  Missouri,  Janu- 
ary 12,  1812 ;  and  died  in  Burlington,  Iowa,  November  20,  1883.  He  was 
the  delegate  in  Congress  for  Iowa  territory,  1840-7;  was  one  of  the  first 
U.  S.  senators  of  Iowa,  1848-55,  his  father  being  also  a  senator  at  the 
same  time ;  and  was  minister  representing  this  country  in  Spain  during 
four  years,  1855-9. 

Biographies  of  both  the  father  and  son,  with  their  portraits,  by 
Louis  Pelzer,  have  been  published,  respectively  in  1911  and  1908,  by  the 
State  Historical  Society  of  Iowa,  in  its  Iowa  Biographical  Series. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

For  the  origins  and  meanings  of  the  geographic  names  of  this  county, 
information  has  been  gathered  from  "An  Historical  Sketch  of  Dodge 
County,"  by  W.  H.  Mitchell  and  U,  Curtis,  1870,  I2S  pages ;  "History  of 
Winona,  Olmsted,  and  Dodge  Counties,"  1884  (this  county  having  pages 


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172  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

769 1266)      Ati       f  Dodg    C       ty     by  R  L  P  Ik      d  C      1905  I  g 

p          61  129     £  t     t    h  t         !       d  b    g  ph           tl     II  t    t  d 

I  m  th       ffi          f  G      g     L    T  yl  tj       d  t  d  O      g  H 
SI       m      d            f  th     Man         11     E  p  t  d        Ap  1    1916 

Ah  t         1  p    fi    t      ttl  d         My    1854       g  n     d    T  !S 

1858  m  d  f  t         g      1    ill  g    pi  t       18S5  by  W 11    m  W    d  m 

Th  ■Wl  dD       ISNt         IW  wthth  Ehf 

th    th       p    p     t        h  t  d    th  w      m  g      t    t    tl  y 

ftwdttadgrtp  M  thtyTh  m 

ppl    d  t    t         h  p        11  g  t  d  t  n  tw  Qty   ix 

tl        t  t        1         U 

B  RN       f    m      p    t    fli  M  It  t  bl  h  d    n  1858  wa    named 

f      th       p  t  1    f  Sw  t      Id 

B      H   N  N    f  1>  11      II  g    h        g  m  11  th     K     11 

M  ddl     b       i      £  th     Z  mb  w  m  d        h  f  j  m 

B    h  1  ct  d       1856  t    th    p      d      y    t  tl     Un  t  d  St  I 

C  EO  t  w    h  p      ttl  d       1854      d      ga  iz  d       1858  w  m  d 

b     t  mm  e      t    f    m  Can   t  11  g    and      t  w    h  p 

St    b  tj    N  ■i  t!     C       t  wh   h        b     t       ty  m  1 

IgflwgttlTe         dCh         {,  thltt  tbty 

£  th     S    q    1  \  Ij      11  !f    tl  f  th     D  1  w        t   b       f 

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th  f        fi     p!  h       (R  b    t      H   t        1  G      tt        of 

St    b      C       tj    1891    p  g      15  17) 

Cheney  the  post  office  at  Eden  railway  station  m  Wasioji  was  named 

h  f  B    P   Ch       3        f     m      th 

C  AEE  t    Tt  h  p  fi    t      tt!  d       S  pt  mb       1854       g         d  M  j 

II  18"^   w  m  d  f      th    t  f  U      m     t   N    H    wl  1 
ft        ttl           m           1  d    g  U      £!     H  t  I       k     t     fi    t  p    tm    t 

CI      m    t      11  g     w  p      t  d        18  8 

C  N  t         hi        1 1  d  \p   I     1854       g         d  M  y   II     18S8 

m  d       Ik  f      th       ty    f  C  d   N  H    th        p  t  I     f 

th  t    t  t       Tl        II  g    pi  t  d  d  J        7  1856 

D  DC     L     TE      tl  I  II  g  t!  th     dg       E  W        ) 

f       d  d       1866  pi  tted       J  ly   1869       d  p      t  d  F  b 

y29I8  2Th  ppdbyDCFlk  tf 

th    1       t  t  £h  t        f  U  ty      Th    fi    t  p  g      t  ed 

lee,        th    -U  d  St   P  t  1      d,  J  Ij  13,  1866 

Eden,  the  railway  station  and  village  having  Cheney  post  office,  was 
named  by  officers  of  the  Chicago  Great  Western  Railway  Company. 

Ellington  township,  settled  in  July,  1855,  organized  May  II,  1858, 
had  been  at  first  named  Pleasant  Grove,  but  was  renamed  for  the  town 
of  Ellington  in  Connecticut.  Mrs.  Joha  Van  Buren,  who  proposed  this 
change  of  name,  "wrote  the  votes  by  which  the  matter  was  decided." 


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DODGE  COUNTY  173 

Havfield  township  was  organized  March  30,  18?2,  having  previously 
been  a  part  of  Vernon.  Its  name  was  adopted  from  a  township  of  Craw- 
ford county  in  northwestern  Pennsylvania.  The  railway  village  of  Hav- 
field  was  incorporated  January  7,  1896. 

Kasson,  a  railway  village  ia  the  south  edge  of  Mantorville,  was 
named  in  honor  of  Jabez  Hyde  Kasson,  owner  of  the  original  town  site. 
He  was  born  in  Springvilie  Pa  January  17  1820,  and  came  to  Minne- 
sota in  1856,  settling  on  a  farm  n  this  townsl  ip  When  the  Winona  and 
St.  Peter  railroad  reached  th  s  place  n  the  fdll  of  1865,  this  village  was 
laid  out  by  Mr.  Kasson  and  ethers  the  plat  be  ng  recorded  October  13, 
1865,  and  in  November  the  first  passenger  train  came. 

MANTOEVUxe  township  was  first  settled  m  April,  1854;  was  incor- 
porated under  legislative  acts  f  1854  and  1857  and  was  organized  under 
the  state  government.  May  11,  1858.  The  vdlage  was  platted  March  26, 
1856,  by  Peter  Mantor,  H.  A.  Pratt,  and  others,  and  in  1857  it  was  desig- 
nated by  a  vote  of  the  county  to  be  the  county  seat.  This  name  was 
adopted  in  honor  of  three  brothers,  Peter,  Rilev,  and  Frank  Mantor, 
who  came  here  m  18S3  and  1834  from  Lmeavdle  Crawford  county  Pa 
Peter  Mantor  tte  oldest  of  these  brothers  and  the  leader  m  foundmg 
this  tiwn  was  horn  m  Mbany  county  N  "i  December  15  1815  settled 
on  the  site  of  the  village  of  Mintcrville  \prd  19  1854  and  bu  It  a  saw 
ml!  and  gristmill  there  was  a  representati\ e  m  the  legislature  1859  60 
was  captain  of  Company  C  Second  Minnesota  Regiment  1861  removed 
to  Bismartk  Dakota  m  1874  where  he  was  register  of  the  U  S  land 
office  until  1880    died  m  MantorviUe   September  23    1888 

Milton  township  settled  m  Maj  1854  organized  Ma>  20  1858  had 
been  successnelj  called  W  atkms  Buchanan  and  Berne  Georgia  has 
a  Milton  counts  and  thirty  other  states  have  townships  villages  and 
aties  of  this  name  honoring  the  grand  poet  and  patriot  of  England 
(b   1608  d   1674) 

Oslo  a  hamlet  at  the  center  of  Vernon  township  was  made  a  po=t 
office  in  1879  lately  discontinued  This  name  is  now  borne  by  a  village 
of  the  Soo  railway  m  the  southwest  corner  of  Marshall  county  It  was 
the  name  of  the  original  city  founded  in  1048  by  Harald  Sigurdsson  near 
the  site  of  Chriatiania  the  capital  of  Norwaj  O'ilo  (or  Opslo)  became 
the  chief  city  of  Norway  but  it  was  built  mamly  of  wood  and  after  a 
great  conflagration  the  cit\  was  refounded  on  the  present  site  by  the 
king   Christian  IV   who  gave  his  name  to  it  in  1524 

Rice  Lake  a  village  in  the  northwe';t  corner  of  Claremont  received 
Its  name  from  the  neighbor  ng  lake  crossed  bj  the  west  line  of  this 
countv  It  refers  to  the  growth  of  wild  rice  m  this  shallow  lake  which 
was  used  as  an  important  food  supply  by  the  Indians 

RiPLE\  township  first  settled  in  September  1854  organized  May  14 
4858  mav  ptobably  haie  been  named  for  some  eastern  township  or  \d 
lage  as  in  Mame  New  York  Ohio  Indian-i  Illinois  or  \\  est  Virginia 
in  each  of  which  states  this  name  is  found 


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174  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Sacramento  was  a  village  platted  in  the  fall  o£  18S5,  on  the  Zumbro 
river  in  the  west  edge  of  Mantorville,  against  which  it  was  a  rival  for 
election  as  the  county  seat,  hut  it  was  defeated  by  the  popular  vote  in 
185?.  Within  the  next  decade  its  buildings  were  removed,  and  its  site 
reverted  to  farm  use.  The  name,  from  California,  had  reference  to  scanty 
occurrence  of  placer  gold  in  the  drift  o£  some  localities  on  branches  of 
the  Zumbro  and  Root  rivers,  as  noted  in  reports  of  the  Minnesota  Geolog- 
ical Survey.  One  of  the  places  of  ill  repaid  gold  washing  by  the  early 
settlers  was  near  the  site  occupied  a  few  years  by  this  "deserted  village." 

Veknon  township,  settled  in  October,  1855,  organized  March  4,  1858, 
was  named  from  Mount  Vernon,  Virginia,  the  home  of  Washington, 
for  Admiral  Edward  Vernon  (b.  1684,  d.  175?),  of  the  British  navy. 

Vlasaty,  a  railway  station  in  Ashland,  was  named  by  officers  of  the 
Chicago  Great  Western  railway. 

Wasioja  township,  settled  in  October,  1854,  organized  in  1858,  bears 
the  Sioux  name  of  the  Zumbro  river,  spelled  Wazi  Oju  on  Nicollet's 
map  in  1843.  It  is  translated  as  "Pine  river"  by  Nicollet,  and  is  defined 
as  meaning  "pine  clad."  Large  white  pines,  far  west  of  their  general 
geographic  range,  grow  on  the  Zumbro  bluffs  in  the  east  part  of  this 
township,  as  also  in  Mantorville,  and  at  Pine  Island  in  Goodhue  county. 
The  village  of  Wasioja  was  platted  May  24,  I8S6. 

West  Concokb.  a  village  of  the  Chicago  Great  Western  railway,  was 
platted  June  1,  1885. 

Westiteld  township,  settled  in  18S5,  organized.  March  23,  1866,  proba- 
bly commemorates  an  eastern  village  or  township  whence  some  of  its 
settlers  had  come.  The  name  is  so  used  in  a  dozen  eastern  states,  and 
it  is  also  borne  by  a  river  in  Massachusetts. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  North  Middle  branch  of  Zumbro  river,  its  South  Middle  branch, 
and  its  South  branch,  gather  their  head  streams  in  this  county ;  and 
from  Hayfield  and  Westfield  the  Cedar  river,  a  long  and  large  stream 
of  Iowa,  receives  its  highest  sources,  its  East,  Middle,  and  West  forks. 

Milliken  and  Harkcom  creeks,  in  Concord  and  Milton,  flowing  into  the 
North  Middle  Zumbro,  were  named  for  pioneer  settlers,  as  also  Maston's 
branch,  flowing  northeastward  past  Kasson  to  the  South  Middle  fork. 

La  Due's  bluff,  the  site  of  the  quarries  in  Mantorville,  was  named  for 
Hon.  A.  D.  La  Due,  a  prominent  early  citizen,  who  died  at  Mantorville 
on  January  12,  1899. 

On  the  South  branch  of  the  Zumbro,  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  sec- 
tion 12,  Vernon,  was  the  Indian  Grove,  named  for  a  large  number  of 
Sioux  who  had  their  camp  there  in  the  winter  of  135S-?. 

Hammond  or  Manchester  lake  and  Prince  lake,  in  Ripley,  were  named 
for  adjoining  farmers. 

The  origins  of  the  names  of  Zumbro  and  Cedar  rivers  are  noticed 
in  the  first  chapter,  treating  of  the  large  rivers  of  this  state. 


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DOUGLAS  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  8.  1S58,  and  organized  June  15,  1866, 
was  named  in  honor  of  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas,  statesman  and  leader 
in  the  Democratic  party,  eminent  in  his  patriotic  loyalty  to  the  Union  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  He  was  born  in  Brandon,  Vermont, 
April  23,  1813;  and  died  in  Chicago,  June  3,  1861,  He  lived  in  Vermont 
to  the  age  of  seventeen  years ;  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  Illinois  in  1834;  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  in  1835,  and  won 
there  the  sobriquet  of  "the  Little  Gian-t,"  by  which  he  was  ever  afterward 
well  known ;  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  slate  supreme  court  in  1841 ; 
was  a  member  of  Congress,  1843-47;  and  U.  S.  Senator,  1847-61.  On  the 
application  of  Minnesota  to  be  admitted  as  a  state,  in  1857-58,  Douglas 
earnestly  advocated  it,  being  then  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Territories. 

In  a  series  of  debates  in  Illinois  in  1858,  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  his 
Republican  opponent,  nominated  for  the  United  States  senate,  Douglas 
defended  his  view  that  Congress  had  no  authority  foi'  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  territories  not  yet  received  into  the  Union  as  states.  Each 
of  these  great  political  leaders  then  aroused  extraordinary  interest 
throughout  the  nation,  and  two  years  later  they  were  opposing  candidates 
for  the  presidency,  Lincoln  was  elected,  the  soutliern  states  seceded, 
and  in  1861  the  great  Civil  War  began. 

Several  biographies  of  Douglas  have  been  published,  in  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1860,  again  new  editions  of  one  of  these  in  the  midst  of  the 
Civil  War  and  at  its  close,  and  more  complete  and  dispassionate  studies 
in  recent  years.  The  influence  of  his  loyalty  for  preservation  of  the 
Union  was  an  inestimable  contribution  to  the  making  of  history  and  the 
welfare  of  the  world. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  gathered  from  the  "History  of 
Douglas  and  Grant  Counties,"  Constant  Larson,  editor,  1916,  two  volumes, 
509,  693  pages ;  "Plat  Book  of  Douglas  County,"  1886,  82  pages,  includ- 
ing a  "Historical  Sketch"  in  four  pages;  and  from  George  P.  Craig, 
judge  of  probate,  Gustav  A.  Kortsch,  president  of  the  Douglas  County 
Bank,  R.  C.  Bondurant,  local  editor  of  the  Alexandria  Post  News,  Mrs. 
Charles  F.  Canfield,  and  Mrs.  James  H.  Van  Dyke,  interviewed  during 
a  visit  at  Alexandria,  the  county  seat,  in  May,  1915. 

Alexandria,  settled  in  1858,  established  as  a  township,  June  IS,  1866, 
was  named  in  honor  of  Alexander  Kinkaid,  because  he  and  his  brother 
William   were   its   first   settlers,   coming  from    Maryland.     The   form  of 


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176  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

the  name  follows  that  of  the  large  city  in  Egypt,  which  was  founded 
in  the  year  332  B.  C.  by  Alexander  the  Great.  Fifteen  other  states  have 
villages  or  cities  of  this  name.  The  village  of  Alexandria  was  incorpo- 
rated February  20,  1877;  arnd  its  charter  as  a  city  was  adopted  in  1908, 
The  first  passenger  train  on  the  railroad  reached  this  place  November 
S,  187& 

Alexander  Kinkald  removed  to  California,  and  additional  record  of 
him  has  not  been  learned.  William  KInkaid  was  bom  in  Elkton,  Md., 
December  3,  1835;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856;  served  In  the  Second 
Minnesota  Battery,  1862-3;  was  afterward  chief  clerk  in  the  hosirital  at 
Washington  for  returned  prisoners  of  war;  died  in  St.  Ooi\d,  Minn., 
May  22,  1868. 

Belle  River  township,  settled  in  186S,  was  established  March  8,  1870, 
being  then  named  Riverdale.  January  4,  1871,  the  present,  name  was 
chosen  by  vote  of  the  people.  Each  of  these  names  was  suggested  by 
the  Long  Prairie  river,  which  flows  meanderingly  through  the  north  half 
of  this  township,  on  its  way  toward  the  Long  Prairie  that  borders  it  in 
Todd  county,  being  what  the  French  first  word  of  the  township  name 
signilies,  beautiful. 

Bbanbon,  settled  in  I860,  was  established  as  a  township  September  3, 
1867,  and  was  then  called  Chippewa,  for  Its  lakes  and  river  of  that  name, 
used  as  a  "road  of  war"  by  the  Ojibways  in  their  forays  to  the  Sioux 
country.  Previously  it  had  a  station,  named  Chippewa,  of  the  Burbank 
stage  route  from  St.  Cloud  to  the  Red  river,  at  the  home  and  hotel  of 
Ole  Brandon,  on  a  low  hill  about  two  miles  north  of  the  present  railway 
village,  which  received  his  name,  whence  also  the  township  was  renamed. 
The  village  was  incorporated  November  22,  1881. 

Carlos,  first  settled  in  1863,  was  made  a  township  May  1,  1868.  Its 
railway  village  was  incorporated  July  7,  1904.  The  name  was  adopted 
from  the  beautiful,  large  and  deep  Lake  Carlos,  which  had  received  it 
before  1860,  given  by  Glendy  King,  a  homesteader  adjoining  Alexandria, 
who  had  been  a  student  at  West  Point.  Lakes  Carlos  and  Le  Homme 
Dieu  were  named  by  iiira  for  two  of  his  friends  in  the  eastern  states. 

EvANSviLLE,  permanently  settled  in  1865,  established  as  a  township 
January  7,  1868,  commemorates  the  first  mail  carrier,  named  Evans,  of 
the  route  opened  in  1859  from  St.  Cloud  to  Fort  Abercrombie,  who  had 
a  log  cabin  here  for  staying  over  night.  He  was  killed  in  the  Sionx  out- 
break of  1862.  The  village  of  Evansviile  was  platted  in  the  fall  of  1879, 
with  the  coming  of  the  first  railway  train,  and  was  incorporated  in  1881. 

FoHADA,  the  railway  village  in  Hudson,  platted  In  July,  1903,  by  Cyrus 
A.  Campbell,  of  Parker's  Pralrje,  Otter  Tail  county,  incorporated  April 
6,  1905,  has  the  first  name  of  Mrs.  Campbell,  Ada;  but  that  name  was 
already  widely  known  as  the  county  seat  of  Norman  county,  and  there- 
fore it  received  the  prefixed  syllable. 

Garfielo,  the  railway  village  of  Ida  township,  platted  February  17, 
1882,  incorporated  September  9,  190S,  was  named  in  honor  of  President 


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D0UCL4^   CObNTy  177 

Garfield,  who  was  shot  July  2   1881   by  th  Gi  t  J  d    d    t 

Elberon,  N.  J.,  our  second  mart>     p       de  t   ^  pt  mb      19       f        m     th 
before  this  village  was  founded 

Genbva  Beach,  a  village    f      mm      h  m       t  th         th      d    f  L  k 
Geneva,  received  its  name  f    m  th     1  k     wfi   h  1      th      dj         g 

Lake  Victoria,  was  named  bj  W  It      S     tt  Sh  tw  11     Th     t     m  m 

was  derived  from  the  lake  a  d  h    t  n       ty        S     tz    I     d    th     1  tt 
in  honor  of  Queen  Victoria.     Th      p  f  th  raw  f 

Daniel  Shotwei!  from  New  J        ywh        hmtdlmtk  1859 

was   between   these  lakes.      Th  tddmd  t         IdtC! 

fomia.  and  died  many  years     g 

Holmes  City,  settled   in  1858       tbild  twhpOtb       4 

1866,   was   named  in   honor      f   Th  m       Ad  H  Im        Id         ft 

first   group   of   settlers.      Hewbm  Bgt  PM14 

1804;    and    died    in    Cullman     Al       T  1    2    1888      H        t  bl  h  d 
Indian     trading     post     in     1839     t      F       t  C  ty      W  d 

1849  removed  to  Sauk  Rapid      M  w  h         f  th     fi    t  t 

torial  legislature:   founded  th     t  f   S!    k  p  d  Ch    k  1851 

Before  engaging  in  the  India     trdhhdb  fthf        d  f 

Janesville.  Wis.,   in  1836.     F  11  w    g  th  d    e  f       t         h  t  t 

Montana    in    1862,    and    ther      prtptd  f       dgB  kCt 

at  an  early  locality  of  placer  gldm        g      hhb  thfit      pt! 

of  Montana  Territory. 

Hudson    township,    first       ttl  d  1864         g  d    Ap   I    16     I860 

was   named   from   Hudson,   W  h  mfml  ftp 

came,  including  Mrs.  S.  B.  Ch  Id     wh     p     p       d  th  m 

Iba  township,  settled  In  1863       g         d  Ap   I  7    1868  d  tl 

name  of  its  large  Lake  Ida,  ihhhdb  mdbyM  CI      y 

one  of  its  first  settlers,  for  af        dpbblj  dg  tmtt 

Inteklachen  Park,  a  summ         Ug  CI      twhpbdng 

the  north  shore  of   Lake  LHm         D  dh        gtwt  d 

beside  Lake  Carlos,  derived  fh  th         1  ght    h     g       f     p  II    g 

from  Interlaken,   Switzerland    mh  tdbt  tbt  Lk 

Thun  and  Brienz.     It  means    b  t  tl     1  k 

Kensington,  the  railway      II  g      fSlmtwhp  plttdh 

Hon.  Williara  D.  Washburn       M      1     1887       d  p      t  d  T 

6,  1891.    This  is  the  name  of     w    t         ect         f  th       tj     f  L     d  d 

it  is  also  borne  by  villages       dtwhp  tl         tt         0     th 

farm  of  Olof  Ohman,  about  th       ml  tl       t  f         th        11  g     th 

famous  Kensington  rune  st        w      f       d         N      mb        1898      It 
described  in  the  Minnesota  H 
pages  221-286,  with  illustrati 

La  Geand  township,  first 
23,  1873,  being  then  called  W 
year  it  was  changed  to  La  G 
of  Alexandria. 


t 

1   Soc    ty   C  11    t 

1  m     XV 

dm 

P 

ttl  d 

I860                 g 

d   S  pt  mb 

t   M 

d          b  t         D 

mb        f  th  t 

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178  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Lake  Maky  township,  settled  in  1863,  established  September  3,  1867, 
was  named  for  its  large  lake,  which  commemorates  Mary  A.  Kinkaid, 
a  homesteader  of  1861  in  section  24,  La  Grand,  sister  of  Alexander  and 
William  Kinkaid,  before  mentioned  as  the  first  settlers  in  Alexandria. 
Her  homestead  adjoined  Lake  Winona,  which  she  pr  bibly  i  amed 

Leaf  Valley,  to  which  the  first  settler  came  in  1866  was  est  bl  shed 
as  a  township  November  23,  1867.  Its  name  refers  to  ts  s  tuation  at 
the  southern  border  of  the  Leaf  hills,  commonly  called  mou  ta  n  wh  ch 
rise  conspicuously  in  the  adjoining  edge  of  Otter  Ta  1  co  ntj 

Lund,  first  settled  in  1866,  made  a  township  March  1  187''  s  named 
for  the  very  ancient  city  of  Lund  in  southern  Sweden  wl  ch  ha  a 
famous  university  founded  in  1666.  In  pagan  times  Lund  atta  ned  great 
importance,  and  during  a  long  period  of  the  M  ddle  \ges  t  was  the 
seat  of  an  archbishopric  and  was  the  largest  city  of  S  a  d    av  a 

Melby,  the  railway  village  of  Lund,  was  platted  n  April  19CP  be  ng 
named  probably  for  a  farming  locality  in  Sweden  when  e  so  e  of  the 
adjoining  settlers  came,  receiving  from  it  their  ow     perso  al  '  mames 

MiLLERViLLE,  established  as  a  township  November  '3  1867  wa  named 
for  John  Miller,  an  early  and  prominent  German  settler  Its  Uage  was 
incorporated  June  29,  1903. 

MiLTONA  township  was  established  December  19  1871  rece  ng  ts 
name  from  the  large  Lake  Miltona,  which  occup  es  more  than  a  saxth 
part  of  its  area.  The  lake  was  named  for  Mrs.  Flo  ence  M  Itona  Road 
ruck,  wife  of  Benjamin  Franklin  Roadruck,  who  had  a  hone  tead  m  sec 
tion  22,  Leaf  Valley,  at  the  west  end  of  this  lake.  In  187  the>  returned 
to  their  former  home  in  Indiana.  (Letter  from  beo  ge  L  T  eat  of 
Alexandria,)  Tradition  tells  that  her  family  wasl  g  vas  often  done  on 
the  lake  shore. 

MoE,  settled  in  1863,  was  established  as  a  townsh  p  September  3  1867 
being  at  first  called  Adkinsville  in  honor  of  Thomas  Adkin  one  of  the 
first  settlers.  "Later  the  name  was  changed  tn  Moe  n  memory  of  a 
district  in  Norway,  from  which  a  number  of  the  p  oneers    ame 

Nelson,  a  railway  village  on  the  east  line  of  Mexandr  a  townsi  p 
founded  about  the  year  1875,  was  incorporated  -^  gi  t  11  1905  The 
post  office  and  village  were  at  first  named  Dent  n  !  onor  of  R  chard 
Dent,  who  settled  at  Alexandria  in  1868,  and  died  n  Spokane  Wash 
May  19,  1915.  The  name  was  changed  to  Nelson,  after  1881  honor  of 
Senator  Knute  Nelson,  the  most  eminent  citizen  of  th  s  county  He  was 
bora  in  Vossvangen,  Norway,  February  2,  1843  came  to  the  Un  ted 
States  when  six  years  old,  with  his  mother ;  served  n  tf  e  Fourth  W  s 
consin  Kegiment.  18614;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867;  came  to  Minne- 
sota in  1871,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  Alexandria ;  practiced  law  in 
Alexandria  after  1872;  was  a  state  senator,  1875-8;  representative  in 
Congress,  1883-9;  governor  of  Minnesota,  1893-5;  and  resigned  to  accept 
the  office  of  U.  S.  senator,  which  position  he  has  since  filled  with  very 
distinguished  ability  and  grand  loyalty  to  this  state  and  the  nation.    His 


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DOUGLAS  COUNTY  179 

biography  is  in  "Lives  of  tlie  Governors  of  Minnesota  "  by  Gen  James 
H   Baker  (M   H   S   Collections   vol  XIII  1908  pp   127  j55   w ith  portrait) 

Orange  was  settled  m  1863-4  and  was  estabhshed  as  a  township 
Januarj  7  1868  Eight  states  have  counties  of  this  name  and  it  is  borne 
in  twenty  states  by  cities    villages    and  townehips 

OsAKi=  hrst  settled  in  1859  was  established  June  15  1866  this  and 
Alexandria  being  the  oldest  townships  of  the  countv  The  name  was 
received  from  OsaUis  lake  which  as  also  the  Sauk  n\er  outflowing  from 
it  has  reference  to  Sauk  Indians  fortntrly  Imiig  here  as  narrated  i*i 
connection  with  Sauk  Rapids  in  the  chapter  of  Benton  countj  In  1859 
the  stages  runmng  to  Fort  Abercronibie  had  a  station  on  the  site  of 
Oaakia  village  and  the  earliest  settlers  took  claims  but  the  Sicux  out 
break  in  1862  caused  these  claims  to  be  abandoned  The  village  was 
founded  m  1866,  and  was  incorporated  Fcbruar>  21,  1881.  The  date  of 
the  first  passenger  train  was  November  1,  1878. 

SoLEM,  settled  in  1866,  was  established  as  a  township  March  10,  1870. 
"The  township  takes  its  name  from  a  district  in  Norway,  from  which 
place  many  of  the  pioneers  came." 

Spsuce  Hill  township,  the  latest  established  in  this  county,  was  organ- 
ized March  9,  1875.  Its  low  timbered  hills  of  raorainic  drift  bear  the 
black  spruce,  balsam  lir,  white  pine,  paper  or  canoe  birch,  balsam  poplar, 
and  blueberries,  with  other  trees  and  shrubs,  the  several  species  thus 
named  reaching  here  the  southwestern  limits  of  their  geographic  range. 
This  township  has  two  hamlets,  named  Spruce  Hill  and  Spruce  Center. 

Urness,  first  settled  in  1862-3,  was  established  as  a  township,  March 
22,  1869,  to  be  called  Red  Rock,  from  its  lake  of  that  name,  referring 
to  reddish  boulders  on  its  shore,  one  being  especially  noteworthy  on  the 
northeast  shore  of  the  main  lake.  On  February  7,  1871,  the  commission- 
ers received  a  petition  requesting  that  the  name  of  the  township  be 
changed  to  Urness,  "in  memory  of  a  certain  district  in  Norway,"  Two 
of  its  pioneer  farmers,  Andrew  J.  and  Ole  J.  Urness,  respectively  in 
sections  24  and  12,  coming  in  1865,  were  immigrants  from  that  district 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  foregoing  list  of  the  names  of  townships  has  included  sufficient 
references  to  several  rivers  and  lakes. 

Only  a  few  other  names  of  streams  are  to  be  noticed,  ai  Spruce  and 
Stormy  creeks  in  Spruce  Hill  township,  and  Calamus  creek  named  for 
its  growth  of  the  calamus  or  sweet  flag  (Acorus  Calamus,  L.),  in  Osakis 
and  Belle  River  townships.  More  recently  the  last  has  been  named  Fair- 
field creek,  in  honor  of  Edwin,  George,  and  Lloyd  D.  Fairfield,  early 
settlers   in    Osakis    and    Orange,   having    homesteads    near    the    farthest 

But  there  remains  a  multitude  of  lakes,  unsurpassed  in  beauty  and 
diversity.  Some  of  these  are  named  for  pioneers  whose  homes  adjoined 
the  lakes ;  others  for  their  outlines,  as  Horseshoe  lake.  Moon  lake,  two 


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180  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Crooked  lakes,  Lobster  lake,  and  several  Long  lakes;  and  others  for 
their  trees  aad  animals,  as  Maple  lake,  Elk,  and  Turtle  lakes. 

The  complex  and  recurving  series  or  chain  of  lakes,  lai^e  and  small, 
through  which  the  head  stream  of  Long  Prairie  river  takes  it  course, 
consists  in  descending  order  of  Lake  Irene,  earlier  called  Reservation 
lake;  Lakes  Miltona  and  Ida,  respectively  the  largest  and  the  next  in  size 
in  this  series;  Lakes  Charlie  and  Louise,  named  for  a  son  and  a  daughter 
of  Charles  Cook,  who  settled  in  Alexandria  in  1858,  had  been  a  fur 
merchant  in  London  and  a  member  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  was 
the  first  postmaster  of  Alexandria,  and  after  a  few  years  returned  to  the 
eastern  states  and  later  to  London,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life;  Union  lake,  where  this  series  receives  an  important  inflowing  stream 
from  another  large  series  of  lakes  at  the  west  and  south;  Stone  and 
Lottie  lakes;  Lake  Cowdry,  named  for  Samuel  B.  Cowdry,  a  pioneer 
farmer  in  Alexandria,  who  removed  in  1862,  later  attended  the  Seabury 
Divinity  School,  Faribault,  and  became  an  Episcopal  rector  in  southern 
Minnesota;  Lake  Darling,  commemorative  of  Andrew  Darling,  a  pioaeer 
who  settled  on  the  shore  of  this  lake  in  1860,  an  exceptionally  successful 
farmer;  and  Lake  Carlos,  lowest  of  this  series,  sounded  by  Rev.  C.  M. 
Terry  and  found  to  have  in  some  places  a  depth  of  ISO  feet,  being  the 
deepest  lake  of  this   state. 

Lake  Irene,  in  sections  14,  22,  and  23,  Miltona,  is  in  honor  of  Irene 
Roadruck,  for  whose  mother  Lake  Miltona  is  naraed,.,as  noted  for  this 
township. 

A  second  series,  mentioned  as  tributary  to  Union  lake  of  the  preceding 
series,  has,  in  like  descending  order,  Lake  Andrews,  named  probably  in 
honor  of  the  first  physician  of  Alexandria;  Lake  Mary,  largest  in  this 
series;  Mill  and  l^obster  lakes,  the  latter  having  numerous  arms  or 
daws;  and  Lake  Mina,  Berglin's  lake,  and  Fish  lake  (the  last  formerly 
called  Mill  lake).    Lake  Mina  is  again  noticed  on  page  182, 

A  third  series  of  lakes,  tributary  to  Lake  Carlos,  includes  another 
and  smaller  Union  lake,  covering  parts  of  four  sections  in  Hudson; 
Burgan's  lake,  named  for  William  P.  Burgau,  a  farmer  who  settled  near 
its  southwest  shore  in  1869;  and  Lakes  Victoria,  Geneva,  and  Le  Homme 
Dieu,  each  having  many  summer  homes  along  the  shores. 

To  the  eastern  arm  of  Lake  Victoria  a  fourth  series  sends  its  out- 
flow, comprising  Lover's  lake,  Childs  lake,  and  Lake  Jessie,  the  second 
being  for  Edwin  R.  Childs,  who  came  there  as  a  homesteader  in  1867. 

Many  lakes  yet  remain,  not  hereinbefore  noticed.  In  the  order  of 
townships  from  south  to  north,  and  of  ranges  from  east  to  west,  these 
are  listed  as  follows,  so  far  as  they  have  names  on  our  maps  and  atlases. 
A  goodly  number  having  relatively  small  areas  lack  p'lblished  names. 

Swims  or  Clifford  lake,  Myer's,  Owings,  and  English  Grove  lakes, 
in  Orange,  the  last  named  for  its  grove  on  the  homestead  of  William 
T.  English,  who  settled  there  in  1863.  These  lakes  are  shallow,  and  in 
the  latest  atlas,  of  1916,  they  are  mapped  as  drained. 


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DOUGLAS  COUNTY  181 

Maple  lake,  in  Hudson, 

Turtle,  Long,  and  Mud  lakes,  in  Lake  Mary  township,  the  last  recently 
drained. 

Van  Loon's  lake,  Grutib  lake.  Lake  Rachel,  Echo  lake.  Grant's  and 
Blackwell  lakes,  Holmes  City  lake,  Oscar  lake,  South  Oscar  lake,  and 
Freeborn,  Mattson,  and  Olaf  lakes,  in  Holmes  City  township.  Early 
settlers  commemorated  in  these  names  include  Noah  Grant,  who  settled 
on  section  2  in  18S8;  George  Blackwell,  on  section  3,  1868;  Miner  Van 
Loon,  section  24,  1865 ;  John  Frerfjorn,  section  30,  1868 ;  and  John  Matt- 
son,  section  32.  1868.  (For  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Lake  Oscar,  see 
the  end  of  this  chapter,) 

Long  lake,  Eng,  Hegg,  and  Roland  lakes,  in  Solera.  Among  the 
pioneer  settlers  in  this  township  were  Erick  Pehrson  Eng,  Erick  Hegg, 
and  John  Roland,  for  whom  these  lakes  were  named. 

Lake  Smith,  Bird  lake,  Crooked  and  Hanford  lakes,  in  Osakis  town- 
ship, the  last  two  now  drained 

Lakes  Agnes  and  Henry,  close  north  of  the  city  of  Alexandria,  the 
former  named  for  the  eastern  "iady  love"  of  William  Kinkaid  by  Mrs. 
Caroline  Cook,  wife  of  Charles  Cook,  the  merchant  pioneer  from  Lon- 
don, and  the  latter  for  one  of  their  children,  brother  of  Charlie  and 
Louise  Cook  (for  whom  other  small  lakes,_ previously  noted,  are  named), 
and  of  Fanny  Cook,  who  became  the  wife  of  James  Henry  Van  Dyke, 
first  merchant  of  Alexandria;  Lake  Winona,  at  the  we'^t  side  of  Alex- 
andria, and  extending  into  La  Grand,  for  which  lake  and  for  this  county 
the  first  white  child  born  here  was  named  Winona  Douglas  James, 
daughter  of  Joseph  A.  James,  a  settler  who  came  from  Philadelphia  in 
1858;  Lake  Conie,  at  the  southeast  edge  of  the  city,  and  Shadow  lake  in 
section  23,  these  all  being  in  Alexandria  township. 

Lake  Alvin,  Lake  Latoka,  (of  origin  and  meaning  yet  to  be  ascer- 
tained). Nelson  lake  (for  O.  W.  Nelson,  an  adjoining  farmer),  and 
Lake  Cook,  in  Le  Grand,  the  last  being  in  honor  of  Charles  Cook. 

Elk  lake,  Lakes  Elizabeth,  Gilbert,  and  William,  Crooked  lake,  Lake 
Brandon  (named  for  John  Brandon,  a  farmer  whose  home  is  at  its  east 
side),  Thorstad  and  Minister  lakes,  in  Moe,  the  last  being  near  a  Nor- 
wegian Lutheran  church.  • 

Amos  lake,  for  Amos  Johnson,  Thorson  lake,  Barsness  lake,  for  Albert 
and  Oscar  Barsness,  HoUeque  lake,  Quara  lake,  for  P.  J.  Quam,  and 
Lake  Venus,  with  the  much  larger  Red  Rock  lake,  before  noticed,  in 
Urness. 

Mud  fake,  at  the  corner  of  sections  27,  28,  33,  and  34,  Carlos. 

Baumbach,  Hunt.  Stowe's,  and  Grassy  lakes.  Long  and  Moon  lakes, 
Lakes  Aldrich  and  Nelson.  Burrows.  Whiskey,  and  Devil's  lakes,  in 
Brandon.  The  first  was  named  in  honor  of  Frederick  von  Baumbach,  who 
was  born  in  Prussia,  August  30,  1838;  and  died  at  his  home  in  Alexandria, 
Minn.,  Nov.  30,  1917.     He  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  father  in 


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182  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

1848;  served  in  the  Fifth  and  Thirty-fifth  Wisconsin  regiments  during  the 
civil  war,  attaining  the  rank  of  major ;  came  to  Minnesota,  settling  at 
Alexandria,  in  1867;  was  auditor  of  this  county,  18?2-78,  and  again  in 
1889-98;  secretary  of  State  of  Minnesota,  1880-87;  and  internal  revenue 
collector  for  this  state,  1898-1914.  Lake  Mina,  before  notedi  in  the  second 
series  tributary  to  Long  Prairie  river,  was  named  for  his  mother. 

Others  of  these  Brandon  lakes  were  named  for  Joseph  Hunt,  home- 
steader on  -section  6  in  1867;  Martin  Stowe,  on  section  18  in  1862;  John 
D.  Aldrich,  section  23,  1868;  and  John  Nelson,  section  26,  1865. 

Another  Long  lake,  Jennie,  Erwin,  Alberts,  Solberg,  Hubred,  Davidson, 
Mahia,  and  Fanny  lakes,  in  Evansville.  Adjacent  farmers  commernorated 
by  these  names  include  George  Erwin,  Ole  Alberts,  A.  H.  Solberg,  Oliver 
Hubred,  D.  J.  Davidson,  and  M.  H.  Mahla. 

Vermont  and  Wood  lakes,  in  Miltona,  the  former  named  by  settlers 
from  that  state. 

Spring  and  Kelly's  lakes,  in  Leaf  Valley,  the  latter  in  honor  of  Patrick 
Kelly,  an  Irish  homesteader  at  its  east  side  in  1873. 

Lakes  Moses  and  Aaron,  Lorsung,  Wilken,  Stockhaven,  and  Stock- 
housen  lakea,  in  Millerville.  The  first  two  were  named  for  the  great 
Hebrew  lawgiver  and  his  brother,  deliverers  of  their  nation  from 
Egyptian  bondage  and  leaders  toward  the  promised  land  of  Palestine. 
The  third  and  fourth  of  these  lakes,  named  for  Joseph  Lursung  and 
John  and  William  Wilken,  have  been  drained,  the  bed  of  each  being 
subdivided  to  the  adjoining  farms.  The  last  was  named,  with  change 
of  spelling,  in  honor  of  Hans  G.  von  Stackhausen,  who  took  a  home- 
stead claim  there  in  1870. 

Lund,  the  most  northwestern  township,  has  the  large  but  shallow 
Lake  Christina,  the  small  Lakes  Anka  and  Ina,  bordering  the  south 
shore  of  that  large  lake,  and  Horseshoe  lake  and  Lake  Sina.  The  last, 
in  section  25,  bears  on  maps  of  thirty  to  forty  years  ago  this  name  of 
Mount  Sinai  (called  Sina  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Acts),  where  the 
Decalogue  and  other  laws  were  received,  the  name  being  suggested  by 
Lakes  Moses  and  Aaron,  a  few  miles  distant. 

Lake  Christina  and  its  companion,  the  large  Pelican  lake  in  the  adjoin- 
ing corner  of  Grant  county,  appear,  though  with  inaccurate  outlines,  on 
an  early  map  of  this  state,  dated  January  1,  1860,  their  names  being  given 
as  Lakes  Christina  and  EUenora.  These  were  probably  names  of  pioneer 
women,  the  first  and  perhaps  both  being  from  Sweden.  It  may  be  true, 
however,  that  the  first  was  bestowed  in  honor  of  Queen  Chri.stina,  who 
was  regent  of  Sweden  in  1632-44  and  queen  during  the  next  ten  years. 

Similarly  the  name  of  Lake  Oscar,  in  Holmes  City  township,  though 
a  common  christening  name,  was  quite  surely  not  adopted  to  honor  any 
settler  there,  but  for  Oscar  I,  the  king  of  Sweden  and  Norway  in  1844-59, 
father  of  Oscar  H,  who  was  the  king  in  1872-1907. 


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FARIBAULT  COUNTY 

This  countj  was  established  February  20,  1855,  being  named  in  honor 
of  Jean  Baptiste  Faribault,  who  was  engaged  during  the  greater  part  of 
his  long  life  as  a  trader  among  the  Sioux,  at  first  for  the  Northwest 
Fur  Company.  He  was  born  at  Berthier,  Province  of  Quebec,  in  1774, 
and  came  to  the  Northwest  in  )7^,  taking  charge  of  a  trading  post  on  the 
Kankakee  river  near  the  south  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  During  the  years 
1799  to  1802,  he  was  stationed  at  the  Redwood  post,  situated  on  the  Des 
Moines  river,  "about  two  hundred  miles  above  its  mouth,"  being  in  what 
is  now  the  central  part  of  Iowa.  Coming  to  Minnesota  in  1803,  he  took 
charge  of  a  post  at  Little  Rapids,  on  the  Minnesota  river  a  few  miles 
above  the  present  sites  of  Chaska  and  Carver,  where  he  remained  several 
years.  Afterward  he  was  a  trader  on  his  own  account  at  Prairie  du 
Chien,  Wis.,  whence  he  removed  to  Pike  island,  at  the  raouth  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  in  the  spring  of  1820,  having  been  promised  military 
protection  by  Colonel  Leavenworth,  who  had  come  there  with  troops  in 
the  preceding  August  for  building  the  fort  which  in  1825  was  named 
Fort  Snelling.  After  1826  Faribault  and  his  family  lived  in  Mendota, 
having  built  there  a  substantial  stone  house,  the  first  in  Minnesota,  and 
in  the  winters  during  many  years  he  traded  with  the  Sioux  at  Little 
Rapids.  His  influence  with  the  Indian  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
from  the  Missouri  to  the  Red  river,  was  very  great.  He  endeavored  to 
teach  them  agriculture,  and  was  the  first  white  settler  to  cultivate  the 
soil  in  this  state.  He  spent  his  last  years  in  the  town  of  Faribault,  in 
Rice  county,  founded,  at  first  as  an  Indian  trading  post,  by  his  eldest 
son,  Alexander  Faribault,  for  whom  it  was  named.  He  died  at  the  home 
of  his  daughter  there,  August  20,  1860, 

An  appreciative  memoir  of  him.  by  Gen.  Henry  H,  Sibley,  in  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  Collections  (vol.  flL  pages  168-179),  closes 
with  these  words:  "Amoag  the  pioneers  of  Minnesota,  there  are  none 
whose  memory  and  whose  name  better  deserve  to  be  respected  and  per- 
petuated." 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  origins  and  meanings  of  the  geographic  names  in 
this  county  was  received  from  "The  History  of  Faribault  County  .  .  . 
to  the  close  of  the  year  1879,"  by  Judge  J.  A.  Kiester,  1896,  687  pages ; 
and  from  John  Siverson,  register  of  deeds,  and  Henry  P.  Constans, 
proprietor  of  the  Constans  Hotel,  interviewed  at  Blue  Earth  during  my 
visit  there  in  July,  1916. 

Barber  township,  settled  in  June,  1857,  established  September  27, 
1858,   and   organized   June    10,   1864,   was   natned   in   honor   of   Chatincey 


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184  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Barber  whom  the  commissioners  supposed  to  be  a  resident  of  this  town- 
ship He  came  froia  Penhsyivama  to  Wisconsm  and  in.  1856  to  this 
countv  setthng  in  Minnesota  Lake  township  was  ita  first  hotelkcLper  and 
phtted  it"!  railwaj  vilhge  on  his  land;,  m  1866  About  tnehe  or  fifteen 
years  liter  he  removed  to  Oregon 

Blue  E\rth  township  first  settled  lu  May  1855  organized  October 
20  1818  derived  its  name  from  its  village  called  Blue  Earth  City  which 
had  been  platted  m  Julj  18So  and  has  ever  since  been  the  county  seat 
The  Village  was  named  from  the  river  which  the  Sioux  called  Mahkahto 
meanmg  green  or  blue  earth  as  more  lullv  noticed  in  the  chapter  of 
Blue  Earth  county  Bj  an  act  of  the  legishture  March  1  1872 
the  \iilage  was  inLjrporated  it  recened  a  new  and  improved  charter  by 
a  second  act  January  27  1879  and  at  adopted  the  citj  form  of  govern 
ment  m  1900 

Bkkel^n  the  railwaj  village  in  'seeh  township  w^s  nd.medi  for 
John  BriLe  who  owned  and  platted  it 

Brush  Cseek  township  settled  in  Mav  1856  and  established  Sep 
tember  Z7  1858  rei-eived  the  name  of  its  small  creek  which  joins  the 
Ea'Jt  fork  of  Blue  F-irth  rner  in  section  26  The  reason  for  the  applica 
tion  of  this  name  to  the  creek  was  the  thick  growth  of  small  frees 
thiLkets    and   brush   along   its   banks 

Clarii.  township  =iett!ed  in  June  1862  and  organized  September  7 
1869  had  been  named  Cobb  hy  the  countj  commissioners  m  1858  from 
their  erroneous  supposition  that  the  Cobb  river  (of  Blue  Earth  countj ) 
recened  a  portion  ot  its  headwaters  m  this  township  At  its  organiza 
tion  m  1869  the  name  was  changed  to  Thompstn  m  honor  of  Qark  W 
Thompson  the  largest  land  owner  of  the  town  and  countj  Because 
that  name  however  was  already  m  use  for  another  tcwnship  in  Minne 
sota  it  was  renamed  Clark  March  24  1870  taking  his  first  name  He 
was  born  near  Jordan  Canada  JuK  23  182S  and  died  at  Wells  the 
railway  village  of  this  township  October  II  1885  He  came  to  Mmne 
sota  in  18^3  engaged  in  nulling  in  Houston  county  until  1861  was 
Indian  agent  by  appointment  of  President  Lincoln  1861  5  built  the 
Southern  Minnesota  radroad  from  the  Mississippi  river  to  Winnebago 
City,  and  afterward  owned  an  extensive  farm  at  Wells ;  was  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  territorial  legislature,  18SS ;  member  of  the  state  con- 
stitutional convention,  1857;  a  state  senator,  1871;  and  president  of  the 
State  Agricultural  Society,  1880-85. 

Delavan,  settled  in  May,  1856,  organized  October  20,  18S8,  was  at 
first  named  Guthrie,  in  honor  of  Sterrit  Giuthrie,  one  of  the  pioneer  set- 
tlers. May  1,  1872,  the  name  was  changed  to  Delavan,  to  agree  with 
that  of  the  railway  village  which  had  been  platted  October  11,  1870,  in 
the  southeast  comer  of  this  township.  The  proprietors  of  the  village 
were  Henry  W.  Holley,  chief  et^ineer  of  this  Southern  Minnesota  rail- 
road, and  Oren  Delavan  Browm,  in  whose  honor  the  village  name  was 


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FARIBAULT  COUNTY  185 

suggested  by  Mrs.  Holley.  He  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  in 
1837;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856  with  his  father,  Orviile  Brown,  a  promi- 
nent newspaper  editor;  was  an  engineer  on  the  surveys  for  the  Southern 
Minnesota  railroad,  186S-75,  and  later  for  the  St,  Paul  and  Sioux  City 
railroad;  afterward  resided  in  Luverne,  Minn.  The  first  passenger  train 
arrived  here  December  19,  1870.  The  village  was  incorporated  February 
7,  1877. 

Dunbar,  settled  in  1856,  organized  April  3,  1866,  was  named  Douglas 
by  the  county  commissioners  September  27,  1858,  in  honor  of  Stephen  A 
Douglas,  for  whom  also  Douglas  county  had  been  earlier  named  in  the 
same  year.  But  this  name  had  been  previously  given  to  another  Minne- 
sota township,  hence  it  was  changed  January  4,  18S9,  to  be  in  honor  of 
William  Franklin  Dunbar,  then  the  state  auditor.  He  was  born  in 
Westerly,  R.  L,  November  10.  1820;  and  died  in  Caledonia,  Minn.  He 
came  to  Minnesota  in  1854,  settling  in  Caledonia,  and  opened  a  farm  near 
that  town;  was  a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature,  1856;  and  was 
the  first  state  auditor  of  Minnesota,  1858-60. 

EIaston,  the  railway  village  in  Lura  township,  platted  in  September, 
1873,  and  incorporated  March  9,  1874,  was  named  for  Jason  Clark  Easton, 
one  of  the  original  proprietors.  He  was  born  in  West  Martinsburg,  N. 
Y.,  May  12,  1823 ;  and  died  in  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  April  25,  1901.  He  came 
to  Minnesota  in  1856,  and  settled  at  Chatfield.  There  and  in  several  other 
towns  of  southern  Minnesota  he  had  extensive  interests  in  banking,  farm 
lands,  and  railways.    He  removed  to  La  Crosse  in  1883. 

Elmore,  first  settled  in  November,  1855,  and  organized  in  J858,  was 
then  named  Dobson,  in  honor  of  James  Dobson,  who  carae  from  Indiana, 
settling  here  as  a  homesteader  in  April,  1856.  This  name  was  changed  to 
Elmore  in  1862,  commemorating  Andrew  E.  Elmore,  a  prominent  citizen 
of  Wisconsin,  who  numbered  among  his  friends  several  early  settlers  of 
this  township.  He  was  born  in  Ulster  county,  N.  Y.,  May  8,  1814;  and 
died  at  Fort  Howard,  Wis.,  January  13,  1906.  He  came  to  Wisconsin  in 
1839,  settling  in  Mukwonago,  Waukesha  county,  where  he  was  a  merchant 
during  twenty-five  years.  In  1864  he  removed  to  Green  Bay,  and  after 
1868  he  resided  at  Fort  Howard,  near  Green  Bay.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Wisconsin  territorial  legislature,  1842-44;  of  the  first  constitutional 
convention,  1846;  the  state  legislature,  1859-60;  and  was  during  many 
years  president  of  the  State  Board  of  charities  and  reform.  He  was 
commonly  called  "the  Sage  of  Mukwonago." 

EMI31AI.D,  settled  in  1856,  organized  April  3,  1866,  was  named  by  the 
county  commissioners  for  Ireland,  the  "Emerald  Isle,"  supposing  erron- 
eously that  it  had  Irish  settlers. 

Foster,  settled  in  June,  1856,  organized  September  24,  1864,  was  named 
in  honor  of  Dr.  Reuben  R.  Foster,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  the 
county.  He  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1808;  came  to  Minne- 
sota  in   1856,   settling  in   Walnut  Grove  township ;   removed  in    J858  to 


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186  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Blue  Earth  City,  and  was  its  first  resident  physician ;  removed  to  Jack- 
son, Minn.,  in  1869,  and  to  St.  Paul,  about  1880,  where  he  died. 

Fkost,  a  railway  village  in  the  north  edge  of  Rome,  "was  named  for 
Charles  S.  Frost,  an  architect  of  Chicago."  (Stennett,  Place  Names  of 
th    Ch'    g        d  N    th  R  'Iw        1908) 


H     TL                Iw  y      II  g          V             fid 

A  g    t    1879 

d  f      H        H     ry  M    H     tiiigt            p              f     m 

H    w      b 

Y  t               ly   -a   \           1835        m     t     M            t 

1857      ttl    g 

1       twhp        rvd        thSthM            tRgm 

t  d       g  tl 

w             p         t  t            th    leg  1  t            1872 

d  t    h       1 

m          N  w  i     k  m  18?9   b  t    et         d        189         d 

ft    w    d        d 

W        bgCtyB              th         mHtgt 

P            Ij 

M           t     th      h    t     f    m  was    d  pt  d 

JDEStw!p(p               d        D              d 

t  m  p 

p  li  d                   Ij)       ttl  d         1855       g     iz  a  Jan 

ry  ib    loM 

m  d  J  1                  1858  bj   th             tj       mm 

h           f  J     ^ 

d  Al         d      J  h            wh     w              ly      ttl           f  th 

ty      It  W 

dh                thttl                  hdbbfg          t 

an  th      Miiin 

t    t  w    h  p       d   t  w               d    gly    I     g  d   ti     p 

t               b 

d  pt  d  Jan      y  4    1859           1         gg    t          f  J  m 

L    M  C      y 

f  tl            m                    d  th    fa    t      ttl           tl      t  w 

1  p             t 

K     t     ky      It       th         m       f  th    ra     t         thw    t 

tv     f  111 

dKtkyld             dM             h             h 

ty          ed  D 

It  m      t     J      ph  H  m  1        D  b  Id  d  bl 

lawyer  and  orator,  who  "in  the  early  days  of  Kentucky  ranked  with  her 
most  gifted  and  honored  names."  He  was  born  in  Bedford  county,  Vir- 
ginia, March  4,  1774;  and  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1811. 

KiESTER  township,  settled  in  May,  1866,  organized  in  January,  1872, 
was  named  Lake  by  the  county  commissioners  in  1858,  from  their  sup- 
position that  it  had  a  number  of  lakes.  Because  another  Minnesota  town- 
ship had  previously  received  this  name,  it  was  changed  January  4,  1859, 
in  honor  of  Jacob  Armel  Kiester,  who  later  became  the  historian  of  this 
county.  He  was  bom  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Pa.,  April  29,  1832;  and  died 
in  Blue  Earth  City,  December  13,  1904.  He  was  a  student  in  Mt,  Pleas- 
ant and  Dickinson  colleges.  Pa. ;  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice, 1855 ;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1857,  settling  in  Blue  Earth  City,  which 
ever  afterward  was  his  home;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in 
1865,  and  during  many  years  was  an  officer  of  this  county,  being  succes- 
sively county  surveyor,  register  of  deeds,  county  attorney,  and  from 
1869  to  1890  was  judge  of  probate;  was  a  state  senator,  1891-3.  He  col- 
lected materials  during  more  than  twenty  years  for  "The  History  of  Fari- 
bault County,"  before  mentioned  as  the  source  of  much  information  for 
this  chapter;  and  he  also  wrote  a  continuation  of  that  work,  from  1880 
to   1904  inclusive,   of   which   typewritten  copies    (717  pages)   are   in   the 


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FARIBAULT  COUNTY  187 

Etta  Ross  Memorial  Library,  Blue  Earth,  and  the  Library  of  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society,  St.  Paul. 

LuRA,  settled  in  May,  1856,  organized  September  7,  1864,  derived  its 
name  from  Lake  Lura,  crossed  by  the  north  line  of  the  county  about  a 
mile  west  from  the  northwest  corner  of  this  township.  Its  name  is  said 
to  have  been  given  "by  one  of  the  early  settlers,  from  the  name  'Lara' 
being  carved  on  a  tree  upon  its  shore."  In  the  chapter  of  Blue  Earth 
county,  its  Sioux  names  are  also  noted. 

Minnesota  Lake  township,  settled  in  1856,  was  organised  in  1858, 
and  was  then  named  Marples  by  the  commissioners,  in  honor  of  Charles 
Marples,  an  early  settler.  He  was  an  Englishman,  and  had  served  seven 
years  in  the  British  army.  After  long  residence  here,  he  removed  to 
Missouri.  This  township  name  was  changed  February  23,  1866,  to  Minne- 
sota Lake,  for  the  former  large  lake,  which  has  been  lately  drained  and 
apportioned  to  the  adjoining  farms.  It  is  a  name  received  from  the 
Sioux  or  Dakotas,  meaning  slightly  whitish  water,  which  they  also  applied 
to  the  Minnesota  river,  thence  adopted  by  this  state.  The  railway  village 
of  Minnesota  Lake  was  plattedi  in  October,  1866,  and  was  incorporated 
February  14.  1876. 

Pilot  Grove  township,  first  settled  in  June,  1856,  organized  in  Janu- 
ary, 1864,  "was  so  named  because  o£  the  fine  grove  of  native  timber  on 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  town;  and  this  grove  was  named  Pilot 
Grove  because  in  the  early  days,  before  roads  were  established,  this 
grove  was  a  sort  of  landmark,  on  the  wide  prairies,  by  which  the  immi- 
grant was  piloted  on  his  way  westward.  It'may  be  added,  too,  that  this 
grove,  with  its  fine  lake  of  sparkling  waters  and  rich  grasses  surrounding 
it,  was,  in  the  days  of  immigrants,  a  sort  of  capacious  inn,  or  caravansary, 
or  camping  ground."  (Kiester's  History.)  We  regret  to  note  that  Pilot 
Grove  lake  has  in  recent  years  been  wholly  drained  away. 

Prescott,  settled  in  September,  1855,  organized  September  16.  1851, 
received  its  name  in  1858  for  a  settler  who  soon  afterward  moved  away. 
"All  that  has  been  ascertained  of  him  is,  that  he  was  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  and  that  he  was  known  by  the  name  of  'Old  Honesty.' " 

Rome  township,  settled  in  March,  1863,  organized  in  1868,  was  named 
Campbell  by  the  commissioners  in  1858,  for  James  Campbell,  one  of  the 
first  settlors  in  Elmore  township.  At  its  organization,  it  was  renamed 
Grant,  in  honor  of  General  Grant,  who  later  in  that  year  was  elected 
president  of  the  United  States.  This  name,  however,  had  been  earlier 
given  to  another  Minnesota  township,  wherefore  it  was  again  changed 
in  March,  1868,  the  present  name  being  adopted,  for  the  city  of  Rome,  N. 
Y.,  on  the  suggestion  of  Fred  Everton,  the  second  settler  in  this  town- 
ship, who  during  many  years  was  chairman  of  its  board  of  supervisors. 

Seely,  settled  in  June,  1856,  organized  in  1858,  commemorates  Philan- 
der C.  Seely,  one  of  its  earliest  settlers.  He  was  born  in  Cayuga  county, 
N.  Y..  in  1823;  came  to  Minnesota  and  to  this  county  in  1857;  was 
elected   sheriff   in  1861,   receiving  every  vote  polled;   served  in   the  civil 


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188  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

war;  resided  several  years  in  this  township,  and  later  in  Blue  Earth 
City. 

Vekona,  settled  in  June,  18SS,  organized  in  October,  18S8,  was  named 
after  its  post  office,  established  in  1856  at  the  home  of  Henry  T.  Stod- 
dard, in  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  11,  the  name  having  been  pro- 
posed by  A.  B.  Cornell,  of  Owatonna,  for  this  terminus  of  the  mail  route. 
It  is  the  name  of  an  important  province  in  northern  Italy,  and  of  its  chief 
city,  whence  came  the  title  of  the  Shakespeare  drama,  "Two  Gentlemen 
of  Verona."  Seventeen  other  states  of  our  Union  have  villages  or  town- 
ships of  this  name. 

Walnut  Lake  township,  settled  in  June,  1856,  organized  in  1861, 
bears  the  name  of  its  large  lake,  referring  to  its  butternut  trees,  also 
called  oil-nut  and  white  walnut.  It  is  translated  from  the  Sioux  name 
Tazuka. 

Walters,  the  railway  village  of  Foster,  was  named  by  officers  of  the 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  railway  company. 

Wells,  the  railway  village  of  Clark  township,  was  founded  and 
named  July  1,  1869,  receiving  the  maiden  surname  of  Mrs.  Clark  W. 
Thompson.  The  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  was  completed  to  this 
place  in  January,  18?0,  and  the  railroad  from  Mankato  to  Wells  in  1874. 
This  village  was  incorporated  March  6,  1871.  WitiiJn  the  next  few  years 
numerous  flowing  wells,  twenty  or  more,  were  obtained  in  and  near  this 
village,  hy  boring  through  the  glacial  drift  to  depths  of  110  to  120  feet, 
securing  excellent  water  which  rises  from  the  bottom  to  a  height  of  five 
to  fifteen  feet  above  the  surface.  These  are  the  most  remarkable  wells 
of  a  large  region  in  southern  Minnesota,  but  the  presence  of  artesian 
water  here  was  unknown  when  the  village  was  named. 

Winnebago  township,  settled  in  June,  1855,  organized  in  October, 
1858,  was  then  named  Winnebago  City,  after  the  village  of  this  name 
which  was  founded  here  by  Andrew  C.  Dunn  and  others  in  September, 
1856.  The  townsite  was  platted  in  January,  1857,  being  named  for  the 
Winnebago  tribe  of  Indians,  whose  reservation  during  the  years  1855  to 
1863  was  in  the  adjoining  Blue  Earth  county.  It  was  named  "City"  for 
discrimination  from  the  Winnebago  Agency  near  Mankato,  but  this  part 
of  the  name  was  discontinued  in  1905. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

In  the  preceding  list,  sufficient  mention  has  been  made  for  the  Blue 
Earth  river.  Brush  creek,  Cobb  river  (flowing  through  the  northeast 
comer  of  this  county),  Lura  lake,  Minnesota  lake,  and  Pilot  Grove  and 
Walnut  lakes. 

Maple  river,  named  for  the  maple  trees  along  its  course,  ftowing 
northward'  into  Blue  Earth  county,  gave  the  name  there  of  Mapleton 
township  and  village.  Eice  lake,  in  Delavan,  near  the  head  of  the  west 
branch  of  this  river,  was  named  Maple  lake  on  the  state  map  of  1860,  Its 
present  name  refers  to  its  wild  rice,  like  another  Rice  lake  in  Foster. 


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FARIBAULT  COUNTY  189 

Bass  lake,  in  section  9,  Delavan,  was  named  for  the  well  known  fish, 
and  it  gave  the  name  of  the  first  post  ofSce  in  this  township,  Bass  Lake, 
which  was  established  about  the  year  I8S9,  but  was  discontinued  after  the 
Delavan  railway  village  was  founded.  An  oak  grove  overlooking  Bass 
lake  is  named  "Camp  Comfort,"  much  used  in  summers  for  picnics, 
reunions  of  the  old  settlers,  and  other  meetings. 

Hart  lake,  in  section  28,  Delavan,  commemorates  John  and  George 
Hart,  who  were  pioneer  farmers  there. 

Gorman's  lake,  now  drained,  in  section  17,  Jo  Daviess,  was  named  m 
honor  of  Patrick  Gorman,  an  early  Irish  settler  beside  it. 

Goose  and  Swan  lakes  were  in  sections  1!  and  14,  Brush  Creek  town- 
ship, but  have  been  drained.  Another  Swan  lake,  in  section  15.  Barber, 
was  called  Lake  Kanta  in  1860,  a  Sioux  name,  meaning  Plum  lake,  for 
its  wild  plum  trees. 

The  two  largest  lakes  of  this  county,  Minnesota  lake,  before  noticed, 
and  Ozahtanka  lake  in  Barber  and  Emerald  townships,  have  been  drained, 
their  beds  being  now  cultivated  farm  lands.  Both  these  names  are  on 
the  map  of  1860,  each  being  the  Sioux  language.  Tanka,  like  tonka,  means 
great,  but  Ozah  is  not  defined  in  Riggs'  Dakota  Dictionary. 

The  former  Mud  lake  in  section  23,  Lura,  is  now  traversed  by  a  ditch 
and  drained. 

Jones  creek,  in  Foster,  commemorates  a  settler  or  a  trapper. 
Coon   creek,   tributary   to   the   Blue   Earth   river    from   the   east,   and 
Badger  creek  from  the  west,  are  named  for  fur-bearers,  the  first  formerly 
common  here,  but  the  latter  rare  in  Minnesota,  though  common  in  parts 
of  Wisconsin,  giving  its  name  as  the  sobriquet  of  that  state. 

Elm,  Center,  and  South  creeks,  in  Verona,  flowing  to  the  Blue  Earth 
river  from  Martin  county,  are  to  be  noticed  in  the  chapter  for  that 
county. 

The  Kiestek  Moraine  and  Glacial  Lake  Minnesota. 
The  fourth  m  the  series  of  twehe  termma!  and  margmal  morames 
formed  m  Minnesota  b>  the  contmental  ice  sheet  durmj,  its  wavering 
departure  at  the  close  of  the  Glacial  period  is  called  the  kie'iter  moraine 
from  its  prominent  Kiester  hills  m  the  township  of  this  name  The.,e 
marginal  dritt  hills  and  the  continuation  of  their  moramic  belt  north 
westerly  in  this  countj  and  onward  through  the  =tate  probably  passing 
mto  South  Dakota  in  the  vicimtj  of  Big  Stone  lake  were  noted  in  Volume 
I  of  the  Final  Reports  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Suney  published  in 
1884 

At  the  time  of  formation  of  the  Kiester  morame  the  Glacial  Lake 
Minnesota  described  in  the  chapter  of  Blue  Earth  county  overspread 
the  greater  lart  of  Faribault  count\  reaching  thence  northwstward 
along  its  ice  border  and  cutfiowing  south  by  the  Union  slough  m  Iowa 
at  the  headi  of  the  Blue  Earth  ri\er  being  thence  tributary  to  the  Des 
Moines  rn  er 


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FILLMORE  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  5,  1853,  was  named  for  Millard  Fill- 
more, who  was  president  of  the  United  States,  18S0  to  1853,  retiring  from 
office  on  the  day  previous  to  the  approval  of  the  act  creating  this  county. 
He  was  born  at  Summer  Hill,  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  February  7,  1800; 
and  died  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  March  8,  1874.  He  studied  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  1823 ;  was  a  member  of  Congress,  1833*35  and 
1837-43;  was  comptroller  of  the  state  of  New  York,  1847-49;  was  elected 
vice  president  on  the  Whig  ticket  headed  by  Zachary  Taylor,  1848;  and 
succeeded  to  the  presidency  by  the  death  of  Taylor,  July  9,  1850.  Fill- 
more visited  St  Paul  in  a  large  excursion  of  eastern  people,  June  8, 
1854,  as  noted  in  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections  (vol.  VIH, 
pages  395-400). 

Biographies  of  Fillmore  were  published  in  1856,  when  he  was  nomi- 
nated as  presidential  candidate  of  the  American  party;  and  in  1915 
Rev.  William  Elliot  Griffis  published  a  memorial  review  of  his  life  and 
character,  159  pages,  entitled  "Millard  Fillmore,  Constructive  States- 
man, Defender  of  the  Constitution,  President  of  the  United  States." 
He  is  also  commemorated  by  Fillmore  county  in  Nebraska,  by  Millard 
county  in  Utah,  and  by  villages  named  Fillmore  in  a  dozen  states. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  these  names  has  been  gathered  from  "History  of  Fill- 
more County,"  by  Ellis  C.  Turner  and  others,  1882,  626  pages ;  the  later 
History  of  this  county,  compiled  by  Franklyn  Curtiss -Wedge,  1912,  two 
volumes  (continuously  paged),  1170  pages;  and  from  Archibald  D.  Gray 
and  Andrew  W.  Thompson,  of  Preston,  and  Calvin  E.  Huntley,  of 
Spring  Valley,  interviewed  in  April,  1916. 

Amherst,  settled  in  1853,  organize4  May  II,  1858,  was  named  by  one 
of  its  pioneer  colonists,  E.  P.  Eddy,  "in  honor  of  the  place  in  which  his 
wife  was  born."  This  was  Amherst  in  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  her 
father,  Henry  Onstine,  leader  of  these  colonists,  formerly  lived.  The 
settlers  of  the  Ohio  township  came  from  New  England,  where  towns  of 
New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  had  been  named  Anilierst  in  honor 
of  General  Jeffery  Amherst,  the  English  commander  and  hero  of  the 
siege  and  capture  of  Louisburg  from  the  French  in  1758, 

Arendahl,  first  settled  in  1854,  organized  April  1,  18G!',  was  named 
by  Isaac  Jackson,  a  Norwegian  immigrant,  who  had  lived  twelve  years 
in  Dane  county,  Wisconsin,  and  came  to  this  township  in  1856,  the  name 
being  for  the  seaport  city  of  Arendal  on  the  southeast  coast  of  Nor- 
way. "He  named  the  town  in  remembrance  of  old  associations,  secured 
a  post  office,  and  was  the  first  postmaster." 


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FILLMORE  COUNTY  191 

Beaver,  settled  in  1854,  organized  May  11,  1858,  received  its  name 
from  the  Beaver  creek  (doubtless  a  home  of  beavers),  which  flows 
through  this  township,  joining  the  Upper  Iowa  river  in  section  34.  A 
former  post  otSce  near  its  center,  established  in  1859,  was  called  Alba, 
meaning  white,  because  the  name  was  "short,  eastern,  and  ancient." 

BELLVffiLE,  a  former  village  in  Newburg  township,  was  founded  in 
1853  by  two  brothers,  Edmund  and  Henry  Bell. 

Bloomfjeld,  first  settled  in  1854,  was  organized  May  11,  1858.  Eighteen 
other  states  have  villages  or  cities  of  this  "spring  reminding  name." 

Bratsbero,  a  hamlet  in  the  southeast  corner  of  section  10,  Norway, 
bears  the  name  of  a  district  in  southern  Norway,  comprising  an  area  ot 
about  5,500  square  miles. 

ERrsTOL,  settled  in  July,  1853,  organized  May  U,  1858,  has  the  name 
of  a  large  city  in  England,  near  the  head  of  the  Bristol  channel.  It  is 
also  the  name  of  counties  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  and  of 
villages  and  townships  in  twenty  other   states  of   our  Union. 

CANFiEtD,  a  hamlet  on  the  east  line  of  section  21,  York,  was  named 
for  S.  G.  Cantield,  who  established  a  store  there  in  1876. 

Canton,  first  settled  in  March,  1851,  was  organized  May  11,  1858. 
"There  was  a  spirited  contest  over  the  name,  and  quite  a  number  were 
suggested,  but  the  struggle  was  finally  narrowed  down  to  two  names, 
'Elyria,'  suggested  by  E.  P.  Eddy,  and  that  of  'Canton,'  proposed  by 
Fred  Flor.     The  vote  declared]  in  favor  of  Canton,  but  the  Elyria  party 

gave  up  reluctantly On  the  records  up  to  1860,  the  name  Elyria 

is  carried  along  in  the  town  books,  when  it  dropped  out  of  sight,"  These 
are  names  of  cities  in  northeastern  Ohio,  near  the  former  homes  of  many 
settlers  in  this  township.  Canton  is  a  large  and  very  ancient  city  of 
southeastern  China,  and  thence  twenty-three  states  of  our  Union  have 
given  this  name  to  villages,  cities  and  townships.  The  railway  village 
of  Canton  was  incorporated  April  29,   1887. 

Carimona,  first  settled  in  1852,  organized  May  11,  1858,  has  the  village 
of  this  name,  founded  in  1853-4,  which  was  the  county  seat  in  1855-56, 
being  succeeded  by  Preston.  During  several  years  this  village  was  a 
busy  station  of  the  stage  route  from  Galena  and  Dubuque  to  SL  Paul, 
as  shown  by  the  hotel  register  of  the  Carimona  House,  1855-59,  pre- 
sented to  the  Library  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  This  was  the 
name  ot  a  prominent  chief  of  the  Winnebagoes,  who  signed  by  bis  mark 
seven  successive  treaties  of  the  United  States  with  this  tribe,  in  1816, 
1825,  '27,  '28,  '29,  1833,  and  1837.  His  name,  borne  also  by  his  son,  had 
much  variety  of  spellings,  and  is  translated  as  "Walking  Turtle."  Dr. 
L.  C.  Draper  wrote  of  him :  "Naw-Kaw,  or  Car-a-raau-nee,  or  The 
Walking  Turtle,  went  on  a  mission  with  Tecumseh  in  1809  to  the  New 
York  Indians,  and  served  with  that  chief  during  the  campaign  of  1813, 
and  was  present  at  his  death  at  the  Thames."  (See  Wisconsin  Historical 
Society   Collections,   vols.   II,   III,   V,   V!I,   and   VIII;   Minnesota  H.   S. 


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192  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Collections,  voJ.  IV,  Williams'  History  of  St.  Paul,  page  256;  and  "Wau- 
bun,  the  'Early  Day'  in  the  North-West,"  by  Mrs.  John  H.  Kanzie,  1856, 
page  89.) 

At  a  grand  council  held  by  Governor  Ramsey  in  St.  Paul,  March  14, 
1850,  with  Winnebago  chiefs  who  had  come  from  their  reservation  at 
Long  Prairie,  Carimona  was  one  of  the  seven  chiefs  whose  names  are 
given  by  Williams.  This  chief,  doubtless  a  son  of  the  older  Carimona, 
removed  from  Wisconsin  to  Iowa,  later  to  Minnesota,  and  died,  after 
1850,  on  the  Yellow  river  in  Allamakee  county,  Iowa.  For  him  this 
village  and  township  were  named. 

CAKROtLTON,  Settled  in  the  spring  o£  18S4,  organized  May  II,  1858, 
received  its  name  in  honor  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  CarroUton,  in  Maryland, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  He 
was  born  in  Annapolis,  Md.,  September  20,  173?;  and  died  in  Baltimore, 
November  14,  1832. 

Chatfielb,  settled  in  1853,  organized  in  1858,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Judge  Andrew  Gould  Chatfield,  who  presided  here  at  the  first  court 
held  in  the  county,  June  27.  !853.  He  was  born  in  Butternuts,  Otsego 
county,  N.  Y.,  January  27,  1810;  and  died  in  Belle  Plaine,  Minn., 
October  3,  1875.  He  was  an  associate  justice  of  the  supreme  court 
of  Minnesota  Territory,  1853-7;  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town 
of  Belle  Plaine,  and  practiced  law  there,  1857-71;  was  judge  of  the 
Eighth  judicial  district,  1871-5.  The  village  of  Chatfield,  platted  in 
the  spring  of  1854  and  incorporated  in  1857,  was  the  first  county  seal 
for  two  years,  but  was  succeeded  in  1855  by  Carimona,  and  by  Preston 
since  1856.  This  village  was  incorporated  as  a  city,  by  the  legislature, 
Februry  19,  1887. 

Clear  Grit,  a  former  hamlet  on  the  South  branch  of  Root  river,  in 
section  21,  CarroUton,  took  the  name  given  by  John  Kaerchcr  to  a  flouring 
mill  operated  there  fay  him  with  much  success,  1872-81,  retrieving  ill  for- 
tune and  losses  that  he  had  experienced  through  panics,  fire,  and  flood, 
from  1857  onward  in  Preston,  Chatiield,  Fillmore,  etc.  (M.  H.  S.  Collec- 
tions, vol.  X,  page  42.) 

Elliota,  a  former  village  in  section  32,  Canton,  was  laid  out  in  1853 
by  Captain  Julius  W.  Elliott,  its  earliest  settler  and  first  postmaster  and 
blacksmith.  He  was  born  in.  Vermont  in  1S2;  came  to  this  county  from 
Moline,  Illinois,  in  1853,  bringing  thence  a  company  of  the  first  settlers. 
In  1871  he  removed  to  Missouri,  where  he  died  in  1876. 

Etna,  a  hamlet  in  section  25,  Bloomfield,  received  its  name,  from 
several  that  were  suggested,  by  drawing  lots  when  its  post  office  was 
established  in  1856,  now  discontinued.  This  name  of  the  lofty  volcano  in 
Sicily  is  borne  by  villages  and  post  offices  in  sixteen  other  states. 

Fillmore  township,  settled  in  August,  1854,  organized  May  11,  1858, 
was  named,  like  the  county,  in  honor  of  President  Fillmore,  taking  this 
name  from  its  village,  which  had  been  founded  in  1855. 


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FILLMORE  COUNTY 


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secretarj  of  the  treasun  of  the  United  States,  1789  95. 

HAEMO^^  township,  settled  in  the  fall  of  1852,  was  organized,  May 
11,1858.  Its  village  was  founded  in  1880.  This  name  is  borne  by  villages 
and  townships  in  fifteen   states  of  our  Union. 

Henrvtown,  a  hamlet  in  Amherst,  platted  ir 
of  Henry  Onstine,  who  was  the  leader  in  thi 
ship,  as  before  noted. 

Highland,  a  hamlet  in  sections  35  and  36,  Holt,  received  the  name  of 
its  former  post  office,  established  in  1857,  referring  to  its  elevation  which 
gives  broad  views  over  the  valleys  on  the  north  and  south. 

Holt,  settled  in  the  spring  of  1854,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  at 
first  called  Douglas,  in  honor  of  the  statesman,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  for 
whom  3  county  of  this  state  is  named.  Because  that  narae  had  been 
applied  to  another  Minnesota  township,  it  was  changed  to  Holt  in  1862, 
honoring  Gilbert  Holt,  a  pioneer  farmer  in  section  30,  who  "early  in  the 
seventies"  removed  to  Dakota. 

IsiNOURS,  a  railway  station  in  Carrollton,  established  about  1870,  was 
named,  with  change  of  spelling,  for  George  Isenhour,  on  whose  land  it 
was  located. 

Jordan  township,  settled  in  1853,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named 
for  its  North  and  South  Jordan  creeks,  which  unite  and  flow  into  the 
Middle  branch  of  Root  river.  The  name  was  given  to  these  small  streams 
by  John  Maine,  one  of  the  first  settlers,  who  came  from  New  England, 
fancifully  deriving  it  from  the  River  Jordan  in  Palestine. 

Lanesboro,  the  railway  village  in  Carrollton,  was  platted  in  the  spring 
of  1868.     Some  of  its  early  settlers  came  from  Lanesboro  township  in 


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194  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Berkshire  county,  Mass.  and  F  A  Lane  was  one  of  the  stockholders  in 
the  towns ite  company 

Lenora  a  village  in  sections  2  and  11  Lantnn  was  founded  in  1855 
by  Rev  John  L  D(er  It  was  named  by  him  for  one  of  his  family  or 
for  a  friend 

Mabel  a  railwav  i  llage  m  Newburg  wgs  platted  by  Frank  Adams 
chief  engneer  ot  this  ra  Iwaj  giving  it  the  nane  of  his  little  daughter 
who  had  died 

Newblrg  first  settled  m  1851  was  organized  May  11  IS'iS  taking  the 
name  of  its  ullage  in  aection  8  whith  had  leen  founded  and  named  in 
1853  by  Han=  Valder  a  natiie  of  Norway  who  w  th  others  i,ame  to  this 
place  from  L^Salle  countv  Illinois  Eighteen  states  of  our  Union  have 
villages  and  post  offices  of  this  name 

Norway  settled  in  1854  was  organized  \pr  I  3  1860  The  name  of 
the  town  is  said  to  haie  been  suggested  by  John  Semmen  in  honor  of 
the  native  country  of  almost  every  mhahitant     f  the  town  hip 

OsTRANDER  the  railway  ullage  of  Bbomfield  platted  in  1890  was 
named  for  ^^  ilham  and  Charles  O  trander  who  gaie  to  the  railway 
company  pirts  of  the  tillage  site  William  Ostrander  was  bom  in  the 
state  of  New  'lorV   in  1819    and  came  to  Minnesota  in  1857   settling  here 

Peterson  a  railway  \illage  in  section  30  Rushford  was  founded  in 
1857,  when  tie  railwa>  was  built  on  land  donated  for  this  use  bj  Peter 
Peterson  Haslerud  who  ettled  here  in  Julj  1853  It  was  incorporated 
in  February  1909  He  was  b  rn  m  Norway  July  21  1828  c^me  to  the 
.United  States  in  1843  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  1862  died 
September  23  1880 

Pilot  Mound  township,  settled  in  1854,  organized  May  II,  1858,  is 
named  for  a  flat-topped  limestone  hill  in  the  southwest  part  of  section 
11.  "It  forms  a  prominent  and  striking  object  in  the  landscape,  and 
formerly  guided  many  a  weary  traveler  as  he  wended  his  way  toward 
the  West." 

Preble,  settled  in  1853-4,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Edward  Preble  (b.  1761,  d.  1807),  of  the  United  States  Navy,  com- 
mander of  the  expedition  against  Morocco  and  Tripoli  in  1803-4. 

Preston,  first  settled  in  1853,  organized  May  11,  1858,  received  the  name 
which  had  been  given  to  its  village,  platted  in  the  spring  of  1855,  by  John 
Kaercher,  its  founder  and  mill  owner,  "in  honor  of  his  millwright,  Luther 
Preston."  In  the  same  year  a  post  office  bearing  this  name  was  estab- 
lished, and  Preston  was  appointed  the  first  postmaster.  This  village, 
situated  at  the  center  of  the  county,  has  been  the  county  seat  since  1856. 
It  was  incorporated  March  4,  1871. 

Prosfek  is  a  railway  village  in  sections  35  and  36,  Canton,  auspiciously 
named. 

Rushford,  settled  in  July,  1853,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named 
on  Christmas  day,  1854,  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  pioneer  settlers,  tak- 


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FILLMORE  COUNTY  195 

ing  the  name  from  Rush  creek  here  tributary  to  the  Root  river.  The 
men  and  women  so  voting  numbered  nine,  these  being  all  the  settlers  at 
that  date.  "Rush  creek  was  so  called  on  account  of  the  tall  rushes  that 
grew  along  its  banks,  where  cattle  and  ponies  could  obtain  a  subsistence 
all  winter."  The  village  of  Rushford,  founded  in  18S4,  was  named  at 
the  same  time  with  the  township.  It  was  incorporated  as  a  city  in  1868, 
and  often  was  called  "the  Trail  Gty,  on  account  of  the  intersection  of 
several  Indian  foot  paths." 

Spring  Valley  township,  settled  in  1852,  organized  May  11,  18S8,  was 
named  for  its  several  very  large  springs,  one  being  about  a  mile  east  of 
the  village,  and  two  nearly  as  large  within  the  townsite  limits,  one  of 
these  being  walled  up  and  used  as  a  pumping  supply  for  the  water  works. 
ThisvillE^e,  founded  in  1855,  incorporated  in  1872,  has  become  a  junction 
of  railways. 

Stringiown  village,  begun  in  1860,  in  section  27,  Amherst,  has  its 
name  "from  the  fact  that  all  the  settlers  built  their  houses  along  the 
road  in  the  ravine  in  which  the  would  be  village  is  located,  thus  stringing 
it  out  for  some  distance." 

SuMNEE,  settled  in  May,  1853,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named 
by  the  earliest  settlers  in  honor  of  the  statesman,  Charles  Sumner  (b. 
•  1811,  d.  1874),  United  States  senator  for  Massachusetts  from  1851  till 
his  death,  an  uncompromising  opponent  of  slavery,  and  during  and  after 
the  civil  war  chairman  of  the  senate  committee  on  foreign  affairs,  1861-71. 
Waukopee,  a  former  hamlet  in  section  25,  Carimona,  founded  in  1853, 
derived  its  name  "from  an  Indian  chief,  who  used  to  have  a  fishing  and 
hunting  carap  at  this  place." 

Whalan,  the  railway  village  in.  Holt,  founded  in  1868,  is  on  land 
previously  owned  by  John  Whaalahan,  "but  usage  dropped  the  redundant 
a's  and  an  h,  and  it  became  Whalan."  It  was  incorporated  in  March,  1876. 
Wykoff,  another  railway  village,  in  Fillmore,  platted  in  1871,  and  in- 
corporated March  8,  1876,  commemorates  Cyrus  G.  Wykoff,  of  LaCrosse, 
Wis.,  who  Was  the  surveyor  for  construction  o£  this  railway  and  was  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  this  townsite. 

YoKK,  settled  in  1854,  organized  May  11,  1858,  bears  the  name  of  a 
very  ancient  walled  city  in  England,  which  was  one  of  the  principal  seats 
of  Roman  dominion  there.  Thence  came  the  name  of  the  city  and  state 
of  New  York,  and  numerous  villages,  cities,  and  counties,  in  seventeen 
states  of  the  Union  are  named  York,  this  being  the  Saxon  form  derived 
from  Eboracum,  the  Latin  name. 

Rivers  and  Creeks. 

A  large  area  of  southeastern  Minnesota,  comprising  Fillmore  county, 

alflj  Houston  county  on  the  east,  Winona  and  Olmsted  counties  on  the 

north,  Wabasha  and  Goodhue  counties,  farther  north,  and  Mower  county 

on  the  west,  has  no  lakes,  being  strongly  contrasted  with  the  abundance 


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196  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

of  lakes  in  nearly  all  other  parts  of  this  state.  The  southeastern  lakeless 
area  includes  the  edge  of  the  great  Driftless  Area  of  Wisconsin,  which 
reaches  into  Houston  and  Winona  counties.  On  its  other  and  larger 
part,  in  Fillmore  county  and  the  other  counties  named,  the  formations  of 
glacial  and  modified  drift,  spread  by  the  continental  ice-sheet  and  by 
waters  from  its  melting,  are  relatively  ancient  and  thin,  not  dominating 
the  surface  outlines.  The  region  therefore  lacks  the  more  or  less  uneven 
contour  of  alternate  swells  and  depressions,  or  sometimes  more  noteworthy 
ridges,  hills,  and  hollows,  which  elsewhere  are  characteristic  of  the  drift, 
causing  it  generally  to  have  plentiful  lakes. 

Root  river,  more  fully  noticed  in  the  first  chapter,  is  translated  from 
the  Dakota  or  Sioux  name,  Hokah,  hoth  being  used  on  Nicollet's  map  in 
1843.  This  river  may  be  said  to  be  formed  by  the  union  of  its  North  and 
Middle  branches  in  Chatfield  township.  A  mile  and  a  half  below  Lanes- 
boro  it  receives  the  South  branch.  Another  large  southern  affluent,  called 
the  South  fork  of  Root  river,  drains  southeastern  Fillmore  comity  and 
joins  the  main  stream  in  Houston  county. 

On  the  state  map  published  in  1860,  the  Middle  and  South  branches 
and  the  South  fork  were  respectively  called  Fillmore,  Carimona,  and 
Houston  rivers,  taking  these  names  from  the  three  villages. 

Tributaries  of  the   Root  river  from  the  north  in  this  county  include   ' 
Rush  creek,  before  noted,  in  Rushford ;  Pine  creek,  in  the  north  edge  of 
Arendahl,  which  is  a  branch  of  Rush  creek;  and  Money  and  Trout  creeks, 
in  Pilot  Mound  township. 

Houston  county  has  another  Money  creek,  for  which  a  township  is 
named.  There  it  originated  from  an  incident  of  the  early  history;  but 
the  reason  for  its  duplication  in  Fillmore  county  has  not  been  ascertained, 
though  the  two  are  believed  to  have  some  relationship. 

Lost  creek,  tributary  to  the  Middle  branch,  is  so  named  because  it 
flows  underground  in  the  creviced  limestone  beds  for  two  mites,  through 
sections  14  and  13,  Jordan, 

The  North  and  South  Jordan  creeks,  before  mentioned  as  giving  the 
township  name,  and  the  Brook  Kedron,  flowing  into  the  Middle  branch 
in  Sumner,  are  names  from  the  Bible,  the  latter  being  a  very  small 
stream  with  a  deep  valley  at  the  east  side  of  Jerusalem. 

Bear,  Deer,  and  Spring  Valley  creeks  flow  into  the  Middle  branch 
from  the  southwest. 

Sugar  creek,  named  for  its  sugar  maples,  is  tributary  to  Root  river 
in  section  13,  Chatfield. 

The  South  branch  receives  Watson  creek  near  the  center  of  Carroll- 
ton,  commemorating  Thomas  and  James  Watson,  pioneers  of  Fountain 
township;  and  from  the  south  it  receives  Canfield,  Willow,  and  Camp 
creeks,  the  first  (which  in  two  parts  of  its  course  flows  underground) 
being  named  for  S.  G.  Canfield,  of  York,  and  the  last  having  been  a 
favorite  camping   place   for   immigrants.     A   small   eastern   tributary   of 


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FILLMORE  COUNTY 


197 


Camp  creek  was  formerly  called  Duxbury  creek,  for  pioneer  families 
there;  but  on  recent  maps  it  is  named  Partridge  creek,  for  the  well  known 
game  birds. 

Weisel  creek,   flowing   into  the  South   fork  of   Root  river   in   Preble, 


lamed  for  David  Weisel,  who 
near  its  mouth.  The  mill  was  cai 
were  drowned,  by  a  flood  of  this  stre 

Beaver  creek,   before  noticed  as 
township,  was  called  Slough  creek  or 

The  head   stream    of   Upper   Iowa 
tributary,  flows  meandering      p  h 

Bristol,  several  times  cros    ng    h 
considered  in  the  first  chap  k     ha 

larger  Iowa  river,  farther      u  h 
on  these  rivers,  nearly  rela    d  w   h    h 

Eagle  Rc   ks  and 


n  1855  built  a  sawmill  and  gristmill 
ried  away,   and  himself   and   family 
im,  August  6,  1866. 
the   source  of  the  name   of   Beaver 
the  map  of  1860. 

a  river,  to  which  Beaver  creek  is 
1  u  h  side  of  Beaver,  York,  and 
b  undary.  Its  name,  previously 
ha  the  state  of  Iowa  and  of  the 
m  ates  a  Siouan  tribe  who  lived 
1    W  nnebagoes. 


UNEY  Rock 


are  craggily  eroded  and  weathered  forms  of  the  limestone  strata,  left  in 
the  process  of  very  slow  channeling  of  the  valley  of  the  South  branch 
of  Root  river  in  section  27,  Forestville.  The  E^gle  Rocks  are  pictured 
in  the  Final  Report  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey  (vol.  I,  1884,  page 
296)  ;  and  on  the  same  page  the  Chimney  Rock  is  described,  "on  the 
side  of  the  bluff  of  a  ravine,  .  .  .  having  a  fancied  resemblance  to  an 
oven  with  a  low  chimney." 


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FREEBORN  COUNTY 

Established  February  20,  1855,  this  county  was  named  in  honor  of 
William  Freeborn,  member  of  the  Council  in  the  Territorial  Legislature 
for  the  years  1854  to  1857.  He  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1816;  came  to  SL 
Paul  in  1848,  and  removed  to  Red  Wing  in  1853,  where  fie  had  large 
interests,  as  also  at  Cannon  Falls ;  emigrated  in  1864  to  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  spent.the  next  winter  as  a  gold  miner  in  Montana;  was  engaged 
three  years  in  fruit  culture  in  Oregon;  and  finally,  in  1868,  settled  in 
California,  on  a  ranch  at  Santa  Margarita,  in  San  Luis  Obispo  county. 
He  was  the  second  mayor  of  Red  Wing,  in  1858,  but  resigned  before  the 
end  of  the  year.  Although  he  had  traveled  much,  he  wrote  in  1899  from 
his  California  home  that  he  had  never  ridden  on  a  railroad  train.  New- 
son,  in  his  "Pen  Pictures  of  St.  Paul"  (1884),  wrote  of  Freeborn  as  fol- 
lows; "He  was  a  man  of  progressive  and  speculative  ideas,  energetic, 
always  scheming,  and  had  a  happy  faculty  of  getting  other  parties  inter- 
ested in  his  enterprises.  He  was  a  quietly  spoken  man,  of  rugged  appear- 
ance; self-possessed,  and  never  was  afraid  to  venture."  This  county 
was  organized  March  4,  1857,  with  Albert  Lea  as  the  county  seat. 

Townships  and  Villages, 

Notes  of  the  origins  of  geographic  names  have  been  gathered  from 
"History  of  Freeborn  County,"  1882,  548  pages,  including  the  "Centen- 
nial History,"  fay  Danie!  G.  Parker  (forming  pages  281-292);  the  later 
History  of  (his  county,  compiled  by  Franklyn  Curt iss -Wedge,  1911,  883 
pages ;  and  from  Martin  Van  Buren  Kellar,  of  Albert  Lea,  interviewed 
in  April,  1916. 

Albert  Lea  township,  first  settled  in  the  summer  of  18SS,  organized  in 
1857,  took  the  name  of  its  village,  which  was  platted  in  October,  1856, 
and  was  incorporated  as  a  city  March  11,  1878.  The  name  was  adopted 
from  the  large  adjoining  lake  on  the  southeast,  to  which  Nicollet  gave 
it  in  honor  of  Albert  Miller  Lea  who  in  1835  explored  and  mapped  streams 
and  lakes  in  ttiis  county. 

Lea  was  born  in  Richland,  Grainger  county,  Tennessee,  July  23,  1808; 
was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1831;  aided  Major  Long  in  1832,  in 
surveys  of  the  Tennessee  river ;  was  an  assistant  on  surveys  of  Lake 
Michigan  in  1833;  was  in  military  service  on  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi 
rivers  during  1834;  and  in  the  summer  of  1835  was  second  lieutenant 
of  a  company  on  the  exploring  expedition  here  noticed,  in  which  he  was 
designated  as  ordnance  officer  and  volunteered  his  services  as  topographer 
and  chronicler. 

The  expedition,  under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Col.  Stephen  Watts 
Kearny,  traveled  along  the  northeast  side  of  the  Des  Moines  river  from 


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FREEBORN  COUNTY  199 

the  Mississippi  to  th     m      1      f  B  '         th  th      t  t     th 

Mississippi   at  the   m      h         Z  m  m        E  b 

Lea,  because  itwaenmdb  dwd  mh 

thence  southeast  to  W         h  ag         d  d   h 

westward  to  headw  d  d  B       E     h  d         h 

westward  through    hp  WbgdKh  w 

to  the  Des  Moine  D         d    g  th    D      M  can 

the  site  of  the  city  mh  mppd  d         bd 

it  in  his  journal  o  w  w  b     h 

report  to  the  Wa     D  d  h  p  g 

map,  published  th  Ph     d  p  L 

first  gave  the  nam         w  h     d  h 

of  the  Black  Hawk  w  83  w  p  h        g       ea 

later  called  Iowa  as  a  territory  and  state,  haimg  reference  to  the  Iowa 

Indians  and  the  river  bearing  their  name. 

An  extended  autobiographic  sketch,  written  by  Albert  M.  Lea  for  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society,  was  published  in  the  Freeborn  County 
Standard,  March  13,  1879.  He  resigned  from  the  army  in  1836;  resided 
in  Tennessee,  was  a  civil  engineer,  and  in  1838  was  U.  S.  commissioner 
for  the  survey  of  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Territory  of  Iowa ;  was 
professor  of  mathematics  in  the  East  Tennessee  University,  at  Knox- 
ville,  1844-51 ;  removed  to  Texas  in  1857 ;  was  an  engineer  of  the  Confed- 
erate service  during  the  civil  war ;  lived  in  Galveston,  1865-74,  and  later 
in  Corsicana,  Texas,  where  he  died,  January  17,  1891.  Two  of  his  broth- 
ers were  Pryor  Lea,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  Luke  Lea,  who,  as 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  was  associated  with  Governor  Ramsey 
in  1851  in  making  the  treaties  of  Traverse  des  Sioux  and  Mendota. 

Further  details  of  this  expedition,  and  notes  of  the  names  applied  by 
Lea  to  lakes  and  streams  ia  Freeborn  county,  are  given  in  the  later  part 
of  this  chapter. 

Alden,  settled  in  1858,  was  organized  April  3,  1866.  The  railway  vil- 
lage was  platted  in  1869,  and  the  track  was  completed  to  this  place  Janu- 
ary 1,  1870.  It  was  incorporated  in  1879.  This  name  is  borne  by  villages 
and  townships  in  seven  other  states. 

Armstrong,  a  railway  station  in  section  4,  Pickerel  Lake,  was  estab- 
lished in  1878,  and  was  named  for  Hon.  Thomas  Henry  Armstrong, 
who  Jn  that  year  erected  a  grain  elevator  there.  He  was  born  in  Milan, 
Ohio,  February  6,  1829;  was  graduated  at  Western  Reserve  College, 
1854;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1855,  settling  in  High  Forest,  Olmsted  county; 
ajid  in  1874  removed  to  Albert  Lea,  where  he  died.  December  29,  1891, 
He  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature,  1864-5,  being  speaker  in  1865.; 
was  lieutenant  governor,  1866-70;  and  a  state  senator,  1877-8. 

Bancroft,  first  settled  in  July,  1855,  organized  May  11,  1858,  had  a 
temporary  village  of  this  name,  platted  in  the  fall  of  1856,  in  sections  28 
and  29,  which  on  March  4,  1857,  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the 


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200  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

county  seat.  The  name  was  chosen  in  honor  oi  George  Bancroft  (b. 
1800,  d.  1891),  who  was  author  of  "History  of  the  United  States,"  ten 
volumes,  published  1834-74;  U,  S.  secretary  of  the  navy,  1845-6,  and 
founder  of  the  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis ;  minister  to  Great  Britain, 
1846-49,  and  to  Berlin,  1868-74. 

Bath,  settled  in  the  spring  of  18S6,  was  organized  in,  January,  1858, 
under  the  name  of  Porter,  but  was  renamed  Bath,  April  15,  1859,  after 
the  name  of  the  county  seat  of  Steuben  county,  New  York,  the  native 
town  of  Frederick  W.  Calkins,  who  had  setUed  here  in  18S7. 

GvRLSTON,  first  settled  in  August,  1855,  was  organized  in  January, 
1858,  being  then  named  Stanton,  in  honor  of  Elias  Stanton,  a  settler  on 
the  shore  of  Freeborn  lake,  who  had  suffered  amputation  of  his  feet 
becatise  of  their  being  frozen,  and  who  died  in  the  spring  of  1858.  This 
name  was  earlier  used  for  another  Minnesota  township,  so  that  in  Sep- 
tember, 1859,  it  was  changed,  the  present  name  being  adopted  "in  respect 
to  the  memory  of  a  dis-tinguished  Swede  of  tliat  name,  who  settled  in 
that  town  in  an  early  day,  and  who  was  drowned  in  Freeborn  lake." 
He  was  Theodore  L.  Carlston  (or  Carlson),  the  second  settler,  drowned 
in  1858. 

Clark's  Gkove,  the  railway  village  in  Bath,  was  founded  in  1890,  ten 
years  before  the  railway  was  built.  Its  name  had  been  long  borne  by  a 
grove  3  mile  east  of  the  present  village,  in  which  grove  J.  Mead  Clark 
settled  "in  the  early  days." 

CoNGEB,  a  railway  village  in  the  east  edge  of  Alden,  was  named  by 
officers  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  railway. 

Emmons,  a  railway  village  in  the  south  edge  of  Nunda,  on  the  State 
line,  was  incorporated  March  14,  3899.  Here  Henry  G.  Emmons  settled 
in  1856,  and  "in  1880  his  sons  started  a  store  on  the  present  site  of  the 
village."  He  was  born  in  Norway.  October  16,  1828;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1850,  settling  at  first  in  Wisconsin;  was  postmaster  of  the  State 
Line  post  office  here  fifteen  years ;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature, 
1877-8;  died  in  this  village,  October  2,  1909. 

Freeborn  township  was  first  settled  in  July,  1856,  and  was  organized 
May  11,  1858.  Its  village,  platted  in  June,  1857,  and  the  lake  beside  which 
it  lies,  were  named  like  the  county,  in  honor  of  William  Freeborn,  whence 
also  the  township  received  this  name. 

Freeman,  first  settled  in  1854,  organized  April  2,  1861,  was  named  in 
honor  of  John  Freeman,  a  native  of  Northampton,  England,  who  in  1855 
"secured,  under  the  pre-emption  law,  the  whole  of  section  fifteMi  for 
himself  and  three  sons." 

Geneva,  settled  in  1855-*,  was  organized  May  11,  1858.  Its  village, 
platted  in  the  winter  of  1856-7,  had  been  named  by  Edwin  C.  Stacy,  the 
first  postmaster  here  and  the  first  probate  judge  for  the  county,  "in 
remembrance  of  Geneva,  N,  Y.,"  whence  the  large  adjoining  lake  and 
the  township  received  the  same  name. 


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FREEBORN  COUNTY  201 

Glenville,  the  railway  village  and  junctiM.  n  Shell  Rjck  township 
was  named  by  officers  of  the  railwa>  company  It  vva  mc  rpirated  m 
1898  Previous  to  the  buildup  of  the  railway  here  in  1877  this  had  been 
the  site  of  a  smaller  village  platted  in  1850  bearing  the  name  Shell  Rock 
for  the  river  on  which  it  is  situated  thence  given  alio  to  the  township 
GoM»NSViixt  a  railway  tillage  in  section  12  Shell  Rock  platted  in 
1880  received  its  name  from  a  post  o£Bce  that  wa-;  e  tiblnhed  about 
1860  or  earlier  of  which  T  J  Gordon  and  his  son  W  H  H  Gordon 
were  -iuccessively  po'itmasters  after  186S  residing  as  farmers  m  section 
28    near  the  site  of  this  \illage 

H^BTLAND  settled  m  the  spring  of  1857  orgai  ized  Mij  11  1858  wa 
named  for  Hartland  in  Wmdsor  county  Vermont  whence  some  of  its 
earlj  settlers  came  This  name  was  propn  ed  h\  the  w  fe  of  0  Sheldon 
the  first  postmaster  The  railway  village  tf  Hartland  was  platted  in 
1877  and  was   "      porated  i»  1893 

H<\WARD  settled  m  1816  organized  -^pr  1  =1  18'59  iias  named  in  honor 
of  Datid  Hayward  one  of  its  earliest  settler^i  who  came  from  Po'tMlle 
Iowa  and  returned  to  that  state  after  Imng  here  onh  two  jears  The 
railway  \dlage  founded  in  1869  was  rejlatted  m  188f 

Itas  a  was  a  small  village  or  hamlet  m  section  31  Bancroft  platted  in 
the  w  nter  of  18^5  6  adjoining  a  lakelet  wh  ch  ilso  wis  name  I  Itasca 
In  18^7  It  was  an  aspirant  to  be  desig:nated  as  the  county  seat  but  failing 
m  that  ambition  it  lasted  only  a  few  ye^rs  The  nane  was  derived  from 
that  guen  bs    Schookraft  to  the  source  of  the  Miisissipp    river 

LoNiwv  settled  in  1855  organized  in  1858  retened  its  name  lor  the 
city  and  countj  ot  New  I  ondon  Connecticit  It  was  proposed  by  William 
N.  and  James  H.  Goslee,  natives  of  Hartford  county  m  that  state,  who 
settled  here  respectively  in  1856  and  1857,  The  railway  village  of  Lon- 
don was  platted  in  October,  1900. 

Manchester,  first  settled  in  June,  1856,  organized  in  January,  1858, 
was  then  named  Buckeye,  but  in  May  it  was  renamed  Liberty.  In  October 
of  that  year  it  received  the  present  name,  suggested  by  Mathias  Ander- 
son, who  came  here  in  1857  from  a  township  of  this  name  in  Illinois.  Its 
railway  village,  founded  in  1877-8,  was  platted  in  1882. 

Mansfield,  settled  in  June,  1856,  was  organized  in  January,  1866,  being 
the  latest  township  of  this  county.  Its  name,  suggested  by  Captain  George 
S,  Ruble,  founder  of  the  city  of  Albert  Lea,  is  borne  by  a  city  in  Ohio, 
near  his  former  home,  and  by  villages  and  townships  in  fourteen  states 
of  our  Union.  Originally  the  name  is  from  a  town  of  >fottinghamshire 
in  England,  whence  the  first  Earl  of  Mansfield  (b.  1705,  d.  1793),  a  dis- 
tinguished British  jurist  and  statesman,  received  his  title.  The  History 
of  this  county   (1882)   refers  to  him  as  commemorated  by  this  township 

Moscow,  iirst  settled  in  May,  1855.  was  organized  in  January,  1858. 
"Some  years   previous  to  settlement,  the  heavy  body  of  timber  which 


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202  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

covered  section  seventeen  in  Moscow  was  set  on  fire  in  a  dry  season, 
creating  such  a  conflagration  as  to  suegest  scenes  in  Russia  under  the 
great  Napoleon  From  that  time  it  was  known  as  the  Moscow  timber, 
and  thus  the  name  of  the  town  had  its  origin  (History,  1882,  page 
29^)     The  ltt!e  \jllage  of  this  name  was  platted  m  June,  1357. 

Myrtle  the  railroad  village  in  section  7  London,  was  founded  "in 
1900   when  the  railroad  came  through 

Newky  -settled  in  1854  organized  Miv  11  1858,  was  named  on  the 
su^estion  of  Thomas  Fitzsimmons  who  was  the  first  township  clerk, 
for  a  -ieaport  and  ri\er  m  northern  Ireland  whence  several  pioneers  of 
this  township  came 

Nlwda  settled  in  1856  organized  May  U  1858  was  named  by  Pat- 
nek  Fitz^iramons  a  nat  ve  of  Ireland  who  was  one  of  the  first  settlers 
and  a  prominent  citizen  m  honor  of  towns  of  the  same  name  in  which 
he  had  lived  in  New  "iork  and  Illinois  This  name  is  "derived  from  the 
Indian  word  nundao  meaning  Tiilly  or  according  to  another  authority, 
'potato  ground  ' "  (Gannett  The  Origin  of  Certain  Place  Names  in  the 
U  90 


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FREEBORN  COUNTY  203 

Twin  Lakes,  a  railway  village  in  section  12,  Nunda,  was  partly  platted 
in  1858,  being  the  site  of  a  sawmill  and  a  fiowring  mill  many  years  previ- 
ous to  the  building  of  the  railway  in  187?-8.  The  fall  of  Goose  creek, 
outflowing    from   the   neighboring    Twin   lakes,   supplies   valuable    water 

Lakes  and  Streams,  with  Notes  of  the  Expedition  in  1835, 
The  pamphlet  before  mentioned  as  published  by  Lieut.  Albert  M. 
Lea,  entitled  "Notes  on  the  Wisconsin  Territory,  particularly  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Iowa  District  or  Black  Hawk  Purchase"  (S3  pages,  1836),  has 
a  folded  map  of  the  country  extending  from  northern  Missouri  to  the 
foot  of  Lake  Pepin  and  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Missouri  river,  com- 
prising the  present  southeast  part  o£  Minnesota  and  nearly  all  of  Iowa. 
In  the  area  of  Freeborn  county  Lea  mapped  and  named  five  lakes,  each 
of  which  is  cleariy  identified  on  the  present  more  accurate  maps. 

Fox  lake,  doubtless  named  for  a  fox  seen  there,  is  the  largest  of  these 
lakes,  to  which  Nicollet's  map  in  1843  gave  its  present  title.  Lake  Albert 
Lea.  The  outflowing  Shell  Rock  river  received  this  name  on  Lea's  map, 
which  Nicollet  copied  but  called  it  a  creek.  Where  Lea  crossed  it  on  the 
outward  journey  of  the  expedition,  "limestone  filled  with  petrifications 
was  abundant,"  whence  he  derived  the  name.  (Iowa  Historical  Record, 
vol.  VI,  page  548.) 

Chapeau  lake,  meaning  in  French  a  hat,  so  named  by  Lea  for  its  out- 
line, which  reminded  him  of  the  old-fashioned  three-cornered  hat,  left 
unnamed  by  Nicollet,  is  now  White  Lake,  commemorating  Captain  A.  W. 
White,  an  earjy  settler  who  lived  beside  it  till  1861,  then  removing  into  the 
village  of  Albert  Lea. 

Fountain  lake  adjoining  the  north  side  of  the  citv  of  Albert  Lea 
is  produced  by  a  d  m        th  t   t  d  t    pp  Ij        p 

Council   lake     f   L  p        f         g  t  p    1  j    th         w  tl 

few  straggling  Id  mt        d        h  tbgphlt        tth 

Mianesota  Histo       IS       tj  w  F      b        Ik         tfl  w    g  bj   tl 

Big  Cobb  river       rthw    t    I     t    tl      Bl      Ea    h      d  M  t 

This  lake  and  t         t!  t         g        thw    d  m  pp  d  b    N     11  t 

as  Ichis^za  lakes       S  m    m         g 

Trail  lake,  n  m  d  p    b  bly  f  Id       tip        g  b>    t   m  pi  d 

too  large  by  Le         p   d  b     N     11  t  b  t      th     t  m  th    Upp 

Twin  lake,  outfl  wmg  by  L  k   wh    h  w        1  d  by  L  w 

Goose  creek.     A      r\  I  ttl    1  k  1  t     f  L         m  p        rthw    t     f  T      Ilk 
represents  the  L  ttl    Oj  t      Ik  t  3       d  26    P  k     1  Lak 

township,  "so  call  d  b  f  th        h  p 

Lake  Boone,      m  d  b    L  1  f  N  th      B  pt         f 

of  the  compani        fdg  th         pdt  wB        Ik 

Nunda,  which  w       t  fi    t     11  d  P   k     Ilk        1853  bj  th    wh  t       ttl 
as  noted  in  the  History  of  this  county  (18S2,  page  291).     Lea  mapped  it 


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204  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

erroneously  as  the  source  of  Boone  river  in  Iowa,  named  on  his  map 
likewise  for  Captain  Boone.  In  tliis  error  he  was  followed  by  Nicollet, 
whose  map,  however,  leaves  both  the  lake  and  river  unnamed.  Nathan 
Boone  (b.  1780,  d.  1857),  was  the  youngest  of  the  nine  children  of  the 
renowned  frontiersman.  Daniel  Boone, 

"Paradise  Prairie,"  noted  by  Lea,  northward  of  his  Chapeau  lake, 
was  described  in  the  History  of  the  county  in  1882,  that  it  enters  Ban- 
croft township  "in  the  southwestern  corner  and  extends  northeasterly 
almost  across  the  entire  town,  gradually  disappearing  towards  Clark's 
Grove,  in  the  northeast  corner." 

In  the  list  of  townships,  sufficient  reference  has  been  made  to  several 
lakes,  besides  those  noted  by  Lea,  namels',  Geneva  lake,  Itasca  lake. 
Pickerel  and  Rice  lakes,  and  the  Twin  lakes. 

Nicollet's  Ichiyaza  lakes,  before  noticed,  doubtless  included  Lake 
George,  and  Spicer  and  Trenton  lakes,  in  Freeborn,  named  for  and  by 
early  settlers.  Another,  the  little  Prairie  lake,  also  named  Penny  lake, 
is  in  section  31  of  this  township. 

Le  Sueur  or  Mule'  lake,  in  the  east  part  of  Hartland,  lies  at  the  head 
of  Le  Sueur  river.  Its  second  name  alludes  to  the  loss  of  "a  fine  span 
of  mules  belonging  to  B.  J.  Boardman,"  drowned  there  in  1857. 

Lake  George,  in  section  22,  Bath,  was  named  in  honor  of  George  W. 
Skinner,  Jr.,  son  of  a  prominent  pioneer  there. 

Newry  lake  derived  its  name  from  its  location,  in  section  2,  Newry 
township. 

Deer  and  Turtle  creeks,  in  Newry  and  Moscow,  Goose  lake  in  section 
3,  Albert  Lea,  and  Elk  lake,  section  21,  London,  need  no  explanations. 

Spring  lake,  in  the  city  of  Albert  Lea.  and  Fountain  lake  at  its  north 
side,  the  latter  a  mill  pond,  are  named  for  springs  on  their  shores. 

Bancroft  creek  is  in  the  township  of  this  name. 

Manchester  had  a  notable  group  of  small  lakes,  namely,  Lake  Peter- 
son, Silver,  Sugar,  and  Spring  lakes ;  but  the  first  two  have  been  drained. 

Peter  Lund  creek,  in  Hayward,  commemorates  a  pioneer  farmer,  an 
immigrant  from  "Norway,  who  came  to  America  in  1850,  settled  here  in 
18S6,  and  was  the  first  township  treasurer. 

Steward's  creek,  in  Alden  and  Mansfield,  was  named  in  honor  of  Hiram 
J.  Steward,  who  was  born  near  Bangor,  Maine,  September  21,  1831;  served 
in  the  civil  war,  1862,  being  severely  wounded;  came  west,  and  in  1869 
settled  as  a  farmer  in  section  12,  Mansfield. 

Lime  creek  is  the  outlet  of  Bear  lake  and  State  Line  lake,  flowing 
into  Iowa  and  there  tributary  to  Shell  Rock  river.  It  was  thoi^ht  by 
Lea  to  be  the  head  stream  of  Boone  river,  as  before  noted. 

Grass  lake,  in  sections  26  and  35,  Freeman,  now  drained,  was  named 
for  the  grasses  and  sedges  growing  in  its  shallow  water. 

Woodbury  creek,  in  Oakland  and  London,  flowing  into  Mower  county, 
received  the  name  of  a  settler  there. 


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GOODHUE  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  5,  1853,  was  named  in  honor  of  James 
Madison  Goodhue,  who  was  the  first  printer  and  editor  in  Minnesota, 
beginning  the  issue  of  the  Minnesota  Pioneer  on  April  28,  1849.  He  was 
born  in  Hebron,  N.  ,H.,  March  31,  1810,  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  August 
27,  1852;  was  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1833;  studied  law  in  New 
York  City,  and  was  admitted  to  ttie  bar  about  1840;  afterward  was  a 
farmer  three  years  in  Plainfield,  111, ;  practiced  law  in  Galesburg,  III.,  and 
in  Platteville  and  Lancaster,  Wis. ;  became  editor  of  the  Wisconsin  Herald, 
published  in  Lancaster;  removed  to  St.  Paul  in  the  spring  of  1849,  and 
m  th  mai 


H 
H  o! 

501)  and  D.  b.  B.  Johnston  (X,  247-25o).  His  successor  as  editor  of  the 
Pioneer,  Joseph  R.  Brown,  wrote  of  him  in  an  editorial  tribute  a  year 
after  he  died :  "James  M.  Goodhue  was  a  warm  and  fast  friend  of  Min- 
nesota to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  will  be  remembered  with  the  small 
band  of  sturdy  men  who  labored  constantly  and  with  iron  resolution  to 
establish  the  pillars  of  society  in  our  Territory  upon  a  sound  moral  basis. 
His  press  was  always  found  on  the  side  of  law,  order,  temperance,  and 


Townships  .^nd  Villages. 

Information  of  origins  and  raeatiiiigs  of  these  names  has  been  gathered 
from  the  "Geographical  and  Statistical  Sketch  ...  of  Goodhue  County," 
by  W.  H.  Mitchell,  1869,  191  pages;  "History  of  Goodhue  County,"  1878, 
664  pages ;  "Goodhue  County,  Past  and  Present,  by  an  Old  Settler"  (Rev. 
Joseph  W.  Hancock),  1893,  349  pages;  the  later  History,  edited  by 
Franklyn  Curtis s-Wedge,  1909,  1074  pages;  and  from  Dr.  William  M. 
Sweney,  Albert  E.  Rhame,  city  engineer,  and  Charles  S.  Dana,  clerk  of 
the  court,  interviewed  at  Red  Wing  in  April,  1916. 


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206  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

BEtLE  Ckeek  township,  settled  in  I8S3,  organized  in  1858,  received 
this  French  name  of  its  creek,  meaning  beautiful. 

Belvidere,  settled  in  the  spring  of  18S5,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was 
at  first  called  York,  and  later  Elmira,  the  present  name  being  adopted 
December  28,  1858.  Illinois  has  a  city  of  this  name,  which  also  is  borne 
by  vill^es  and  townships  in  seven  other  states. 

BuRNSiDE,  settled  in  1854,  organized  in  1858,  was  known  at  first  as 
Union,  and  in  1859-61  as  Milton,  but  was  renamed  as  now  in  March, 
1862,  in  honor  of  Ambrose  Everett  Burnside  (b.  1824,  d.  1881),  a  dis- 
tinguished general  in  the  civil  war,  1861-65,  governor  of  Rhode  Island, 
1866-9,  and  United  States  senator,  1875-81. 

Cannon  Falls  township,  settled  in  1854,  organized  Jn  1858,  derived 
its  name  from  the  falls  of  Cannon  river,  as  it  was  named  by  Pike  in  1806, 
by  Keating's  Narrative  of  Long's  expedition  in  1823,  and  on  Nicollet's 
map,  1843,  erroneously  changed  from  the  early  French  name,  Riviere 
aiuc  Canots,  which  alluded  to  canoes  left  near  its  mouth  by  parties  of 
Indians  on  war  or  hunting  expeditions.  Cannon  Falls  village,  platted 
August  2?,  1855,  was  incorporated  March  10,  1857,  and  adopted  its  city 
charter  in  February,  1905. 

Central  Point,  a  township  of  very  small  area,  settled  about  1850, 
was  organized  in  1858.  Its  name  refers  to  a  point  of  land  here  extending 
into  Lake  Pepin,  about  midway  between  the  head  and  foot  of  the  lake. 

Cherry  Grove,  settled  in  1854,  organized  in  1858,  received  its  name 
from  a  cherry  grove  in  the  central  part  of  this  township,  where  a  log 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  1857.  The  wild  red  cherry  (also  called  bird 
cherry)  and  the  wild  black  cherry  are  common  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  this  state. 

Clay  Bank,  Clay  Pits,  and  Belle  Chester,  in  Goodhue  township, 
are  railway  stations  for  supply  of  pottery  clay,  used  extensively  in  Red 
Wing  for  manufacture  of  stoneware  and  sewer  pipe. 

Dennison,  a  railway  village  in  the  west  edge  of  Warsaw,  on  the 
county  line,  was  named  in  honor  of  Morris  P.  Dennison,  a  settler  near 
its  site  in  1856,  on  whose  land  the  village  was  located. 

EcGLESTON,  a  railway  station  in  Welch,  was  likewise  named  for  an 
early  settler  and  land  owner.  John  E.  and  Joseph  Eggleston  settled  in 
the  adjoining  township  of  Burnside  in  the  spring  of  1855,  and  Harlan 
P.  and  Ira  E.  Eggleston  were  volunteers  in  the  civil  war  from  that  town- 
ship, which  included  Welch  until  1864. 

Fairpoint,  a  small  village  euphoniously  named,  in  section  33,  Cherry 
Grove,  was  platted  in  1857. 

Feathekstone,  first  settled  in  1855,  organized  in  1858,  "derived  its  name 
from  William  Featherstone,  who  with  a  large  family  settled  there  in 
1855." 

Florence,  settled  in  1854,  organized  1858,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Florence  Graham,  oldest  child  of  Judge  Christopher  C.  Graham,  of  Red 
Wing.    She  was  married  January  8,  1872,  to  David  M.  Taber,  who  died 


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GOODHUE  COUNTY  207 

April  1,  1880.  Mrs.  Taber,  yet  living  in  Red  Wing  in  1916,  "is  known 
for  her  interest  in  all  matters  which  tend  toward  the  betterment  of  the 
city  and  county."  Her  father  (b.  1806,  d.  1891)  served  in  the  Mexican 
war ;  came  to  Red  Wing  in  1854.  as  receiver  of  the  U.  S.  land  office,  and 
filled  that  position  until  1861 ;  was  the  municipal  judge  after  1869. 

pRONTENAC,  3  railway  village  and  neighboring  lakeside  village  of 
summer  homes,  in  Florence  township,  had  the  early  Indian  trading  post 
of  James  Wells,  before  1850,  and  was  permanently  settled  in  18S4-57. 
The  name  commemorates  Louis  de  Buade  de  Frontenac,  who  was  born 
in  Paris,  1622.  and  died  in  Quebec,  November  28,  1698.  He  was  the  French 
colonial  governor  of  Canada  in  1672  K  and  1689  98  There  i^;  no  record 
of  his  traveling  to  the  Mississippi  river 

Goodhue  township  settled  in  1854  organized  September  13  I8S9  was 
then  named  Lime  but  was  renamed  as  now  in  January  1860  honoring 
James  M  Goodhue  like  the  county  name  The  \illage  was  incorporated 
\pril  26   1897 

Hay  Creek  township  settled  in  the  spring  of  !8'J4  organized  in  1SS8, 
receued  its  name  from  the  stream   which  had  naturil  hay  meadow^ 

HoLiffiN  settled  in  1854  "i  organized  m  1858  ha=  a  name  that  is  borne 
by  townships  in  Maine  and  Maa^iaehusetts   and  h\  a  citj  m  Missouri 

KfiNiON  settled  in  1855  organized  in  1858  was  named  for  a  pioneer 
merchant  who  m  1856  built  the  first  store  there  The  ullage  now  a 
railway  (unction  was  alio  originalK  platted  in  1856 

Leon  settled  m  the  fall  ot  1854  organized  in  IS'iS  bear  a  foreign 
name  that  of  a  medieval  kingdom  which  was  later  a  province  of  '^pain. 
It  is  also  the  name  of  townships  in  New  York  and  Wisconsin 

MiNNEOLA  settled  m  Maj  185^  organized  December  15  I8'i9  ha«  a 
name  from  the  Dakota  or   Siou'^  language    meaning  much  water 

Pine  Island  settled  in  18'54  organised  in  1858  took  the  name  of  its 
village  which  was  platted  in  the  winter  of  1855  7  The  i  land  proper 
IS  formed  bv  the  m  ddle  branch  of  the  Zumbro  which  circles  around 
the  present  ( illage  enclosing  a  tract  once  thicklj  studded  with  tall  pine 
trees  This   spot   waa   one   of   the   fa\or  te   resorts   of   the   Dakota 

Indians  Thej  called  it  Vi  a  zee  wee  ta  Pine  Island  and  here  m  their 
skin  tents  they  used  to  pass  the  cold  winter  months  sheltered  Irom  the 
winds  and  storms  bj  the  thick  branches  of  lofty  pine  The  chief  of 
Red  Wings  village  told  the  commissioners  of  the  United  ^tate'i  when 
asked  to  sign  the  treatj  that  would  require  his  people  to  relinquish  their 
home  on  the  Mississippi  ruer  that  he  was  willing  to  sign  it  if  he  could 
have  hs  future  home  at  Pine  Island  (Hancock  page  288)  Between 
the  two  branches  of  the  Zumbro  ri\ei  which  unite  a  short  distance 
below  there  was  quite  a  fore  t  of  pine  whiih  Lould  be  seen  for  a  long 
distance  o\tr  the  praine  giving  it  quite  the  appearance  of  an  Island  in 
the  sea       (Mitchell   page  118) 

Red  Wing  the  location  of  a  mission  to  the  Sioux  in  1837  bj  two 
Swiss  missionaries    Samuel  Denton  and  Daniel  Gavm    was  first  settled 


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208  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

for  farming  and  Indian  trading  Jn  1850-52;  was  ciiosen  to  he  the  county 
seat  in  1853;  was  incorporated  as  a  city  March  4,  1857;  and  received  new 
municipal  charters  on  March  3,  1864,  and  February  21,  1887. 

D  R  b'  r  t    ■         f  tl      S"  *t      ■     th    "H     db     k     f 

m       an  H  Re 

m  th  Kh  m 


Colonel  WUIiam  Colvdl  m  a  letter  to  Prof  N  H  ^A  mchell  wrote 
(Geology  of  Minnesota  Fjnal  Report  \o\  II  1888  pjge  60)  Red 
Wing's  titular  name  was  W  acouta — the  shooter  Th  s  was  always  tie 
head  chiefs  title— the  stme  as  thit  of  the  chief  who  captured  Henne 
p  n  He  had  tl  e  i  ame  of  Red  W  ng  Koo  poo  hoo  sha  [Khupahu  wmg 
sha   red]    Iram  the  snans  wing    djed    carlet    wh  ch  he  carried 

Pike  in  1805  06  called  the  second  of  thee  hereditary  chiefs  Talanga 
mane  which  should  be  more  correctly  wrtten  Tatanka  mam  meaning 
Buffalo  walking  and  he  also  gaie  his  titled  name  in  French  Aile  Rouge 
with  its  direct  Ei  gl  sh  translation    Red  W  ng 

The  Siou"?  name  of  this  place  was  Rhemn  cha  or  Khemn  dia  applied 
by  Nicollet  s  imp  to  the  present  Hay  creek  as  Remnicha  river  It  means 
the  Hill  Water  Wood  place  formed  by  three  S  oux  words  Rhe  a  high 
hill  or  ridge  mini  water  and  chan  wood  referring  to  the  Barn  bluiiE 
and  other  high  ri\er  blufE=  and  to  the  abundance  of  water  and  wood 
which  made  it  an  ideal  camp  ground 

RosLOE  settled  in  1854  organized  m  I8'i8  was  named  bj  Charles  Dana 
one  of  the  pioneers  from  the  township  of  Roscoe  Illinois  where  he 
had  previously  lived 

Stanton  settled  in  the  fall  of  ISM  organized  in  1858  was  named  in 
honor  of  William  Stanton  who  with  his  son  of  the  same  name  and 
others  immigrants  from  New  England  came  in  1855  settling  on  Prairie 
treek  Rev  J  W  Hancock  who  conducted  the  first  religious  services 
of  this  township  at  his  home  m  the  winter  of  1855  6  wrote  The 
log  house  built  bj  Will  am  Stanton  Sr  near  the  road  leading  to  Fan 
bault  f roi  I  the  nearest  M  ssissippi  towns  was  for  several  jears  the  onl 
place  for  the  entertainment  of  travelers  between  Cannon  Falb  and 
further  west.  Mr.  Stanton's  latch  string  was  always  hanging  out,  and 
every  civil  appearing  stranger  was  wdcome  to  such  accommodations  as  he 
had.    He  frequently  entertained  fifty  persons  the  same  night." 


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GOODHUE  COUNTY  209 

Vasa,  settled  in  18S3,  organized  in  1858,  "was  named  in  honor  of  Gus- 
tavus  Vasa,  king  of  Sweden,  more  generally  known  as  Gustavus  I,  the 
Christian  king,  and  the  founder  of  the  Lutheran  Church."  (History, 
1878,  page  428.)  He  was  bom  in  Lindholmen,  Upland,  Sweden.  May  12, 
1496,  and  died  in  Stockholm,  September  29,  1S60;  was  king  1523-60. 

Wacouta,  settled  in  1850,  organized  1858,  was  named  by  George  W. 
Bullard,  the  first  settler,  who  was  an  Indian  trader  and  in  1853  platted 
a  village  around  Iiis  trading  post,  which  was  a  rival  of  Red  Wing  for 
designation  as  the  county  seat.  Hancock  wrote  as  follows  of  the  last 
chief  bearing  this  name,  commemorated  by  this  little  township. 

"The  nephew  of  Scarlet  Wing  [Red  Wing]  was  the  last  reigning 
chief  of  this  band  of  Dakotas.  His  name  was  Wacouta,  the  shooter. 
It  was  this  chief  who  informed  the  writer  that  his  uncle,  the  Scarlet 
Wing,  was  buried  on  a  bluff  near  Wabasha..  Wacouta  was  a  man  of 
peace.  He  was  not  accustomed  to  lead  in  the  warpath,  although  his 
braves  had  the  privilege  of  forming  wmr  parties  and  making  raids  against 
their  enemies  whenever  they   desired. 

"Wacouta  was  very  tall,  straight,  and  dignified  in  his  demeanor.  He 
was  also  a  man  of  good  judgment.  His  authority  was  not  absolute.  He 
rather  advised  his  people  than  commanded  them.  He  encouraged  in- 
dustry and  sobriety;  was  a  friend  to  the  missionaries,  and  sent  his  own 
children  to  their  schools  when  he  was  at  home  himself." 

As  before  mentioned  by  Colvill  in  the  notice  of  Red  Wing,  this  name 
was  borne  as  a  title  of  chieftaincy.  With  slight  difference,  it  was  the 
name  of  the  head  chief  of  the  Issati  Sioux  about  Mille  Lacs  at  the  time 
of  the  captivity  of  Hennepin  and  his  companions  in  1680.  Hennepin  wrote 
of  him  as  "Ouasicoude,  that  is,  the  Pierced-pine,  the  greatest  of  all  the 
slati  chiefs." 

Keating  in  1823,  as  historian  of  Major  Long's  expedition,  gave  this 
name,  under  another  spelling,  "Wazekota  (Shooter  from  the  pine-top)," 
for  the  old  Red  Wing  chief,  Walking  Buffalo,  whom  Pike  had  met 
eighteen  years  before.  It  is  from  two  Dakota .  words,  wazi,  pine,  and 
kute,  to  shoot. 

Wanamingo,  settled  in  1854,  organized  in  1858,  is  almost  wholly 
occupied  by  prosperous  Norwegian  farmers.  The  origin  and  meaning  of 
the  name  remain  to  be  learned.  It  appears  to  be  of  Indian  derivation,  "the 
name  of  a  heroine  of  a  novel  popalar  in  those  days."  (History,  1910,  p.  222.) 
Warsaw  was  first  settled  in  June,  1855,  and  was  organized  in  1858. 
Indiana  has  a  city  of  Warsaw,  and  twelve  states  of  our  Union  have 
villages  and  townships  that  bear  this  name  of  the  large  capital  of  the 
former  kingdom  of  Poland. 

Welch,  settled  in  1857,  organized  March  23,  1864,  was  then  named 
Grant,  in  honor  of  General  U.  S.  Grant;  but  it  was  renamed  as  now  in 
January,  1872,  to  commemorate  Abraham  Edwards  Welch,  of  Red  Wing. 
He  was  born  at  Kalamazoo,  Mich,,  August  16,  1839;  and  died  in  the  army 
at  Nashville,  Term.,  February  1,  1864.    He  volunteered  at  Lincoln's  first 


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210  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Uftp         dwfitlt         tthFtM  t        gmt 

tkp  pldd  d  ]         gtthS 

in  1862      Lat      h    w  j  th    F       th  M  t        g  m     t   and  d    d 

fmtlfftf  d  dtVkbgHwth  f 

WU        HWlhj       thwasb  C  ttbt  1812  w 

gdt      f'ilCllg        dlt        ftlw     hi       mtM 
ta         1850        d  d  d     t  fi    t         St   A  th     y       d      f  d         St 

PIHw        Ifjt         fth        pm  tfM      e^tT       try 

1853  58      m      d       1858  t    R  d  W    g       d  d   d  tl        J  y  22  186. 

Z  M  ttl  d        1854       g         d        18S8  d  th  f 

t       II  g     pi  tt  d       S  pt  mb       18=;6         th    Z  ml  wl    h  fl  w 

tl  th        p    t     f  th     t  w    h  p     Th    S  d  th 

WO]         e.       g  P         PI     t  d    h       g      £  t     th     g  f 

gr    t  wh  t    p  t  P        I  land    b  f  t      d         d    t  b  tl  m 

N     11  t         p  1841       d  th    m  p    f  M  t    T       t  1850     It 

w  II  d   R  d  Emh  d  R  f  E    fa  t     faj    P  k 

180S  6       d  pt    g  tl  m     g  t   b      tl  IF        ltd  d 

5  g  Emb  by  M  ]       L    g    1817        d  tmb  th 

m  t  F       h    p  11    B    b>   L         m  p    1836     F         th        m 

w    tt       b>    L  1890      f   h  pi       tl  w     I     rn   tl    t   th 

Fhmfdtbft  ftl  tmthb 

nat      1      ft     f  d    ft       d     P  d  q     kl         d  mpl  t  ly    w  th 

th    F       h  f    m      d  t        h      d      d        tt      d         b    tl     E  g!  1 

p     k    g    mm  g       t     th  m      R  d       Emb  w  gn 

hi    t        f    m  d      t    Z  mb  hi  d        tl     m  p     f  M  t 

1860      Th         11  g  d    t  I  p        m        dd  yll  bl      th      S 

ffi      t  g    t  t  th  t        th    t  th    Z  mb       b     g 

tl  mp       d  f     m  th     F        1    and  Dak  t     1     gu  g 

Lak  StKE    i  S     I  LAN  AND    B    U 

Th    U  pp  wh   h  h      th    1    g    P  I  I     d    t    t    w    t 

db        RdWgdtdstDkt  tj        dth 

1    g  m     t     f  tl      W  pp  d  L  k     P  p         d]  g  G     dh  d 

Wbh  thb  ddthfithpt 

(,  d   Z  mb  1  t     d         th  t     h  pt       th 

fra         p       11}  tp       mddtht        wththfitt         Lg 

f  L  h     t       b  t  tl         g  d     g    fi  f  ih  f  th 

tm  gmtdtlfggpgfC  FU 

d  Z  mb    t    t         h  p 

0th  m         f     t      m       t      wl  g  p  t  d        th     1    t 

ft         hp  IdBII  kCtlPtfLakPp       Hy 

k      mi  tl  11  d  P        I  I     d     f  Z  mb 

E       ptgLkPp        SI         lk(      ymll)  RdVi-g        d 

th     f  w    m  II  1  k  P  1  1     d   tl  ty       d    1 1  t       f  1  k 

S  1    t      m  d  pi       t  f      th  m  P  k 

t  hut    y  t     C  f  th  th         C  F  II     t  w    h  p 


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GOODHUE  COUNTY  .  211 

Prairie  creek  in  Stanton,  Little  Cannon  river,  Spring  creek  in  Feather- 
stone  and  Burnside,  and  the  North  and  South  branches  of  the  Zumbro. 

BuUard  creek,  in  Hay  Creek  township  and  Wacouta,  was  named  in 
honor  of  George  W,  B^liard,  early  trader,  founder  of  the  former  village 
of  Wacouta. 

Wells  creek  commemorates  James  Wells,  often  called  "Bully"  Wells, 
an  early  fur  trader  on  Lake  Pepin  near  the  site  of  Frontenac,  wtio  was  a 
member  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  in  1849  and  1851. 

"Rest  Island,"  at  the  west  side  of  Lake  Pepin  near  the  Central  Point, 
was  the  location  of  a  home  for  reform  of  drunkards,  founded  in  1891 
under  the  earnest  work  of  John  G.  WooHey,  of  Minneapolis,  who  in  1888 
entered  the  lecture  field  as  an  advocate  of  national  prohibition. 

Prairie  Island,  translated  from  its  early  French  name,  Iste  Pelee, 
visited  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  165S-56,  as  narrated  in  the  M.  H. 
S.  Collections  (vol,  X,  part  11,  pages  449-594,  with  maps),  has  Sturgeon 
lake,  Buffalo  slough.  North  lake,  Clear  and  Goose  lakes,  and  the  Ver- 
milion river  or  slough,  continuing  from  this  river  in  Dakota  county  and 
being  the  western  boundary  of  this  large  island,  which  forms  mainly  the 
northern  parts  of  Burnside  and  Welch  townships.  Buffalo  slough  recalls 
the  old  times,  long  before  agricultural  settlements  here,  when  buffaloes 
sometimes  grazed  on  the  extensive  prairie  of  this  island. 

Sturgeon  lake  was  named  for  the  shovel-nosed  sturgeon,  frequent  in 
the  Mississippi  here  and  in  this  lake,  a  very  remarkable  and  large  species 
of  fish,  esteemed  for  food,  having  a  projecting  snout,  broad  and  fiat, 
resembling  a  shovel  or  a  canoe  paddle,  which  was  particularly  described 
by  Ea,disson  and  Hennepin,  the  first  writers  on  the  upper  Mississippi. 

Assiniboine  bluff  in  Burnside,  nearly  isolated  from  the  general  upland 
by  the  erosion  of  the  Mississippi  and  Cannon  valleys,  commemorates 
the  former  presence  of  Assiniboine  Indians  here,  of  whom  Col.  William 
Colvill  wrote  in  the  Final  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  this  state 
(vol.  II,  1888,  pages  57-60). 

Barn  bluff  at  Red  W  ing  li  translated  from  its  early  French  name 
La  Grange  meaning  the  Barn  which  refers  to  its  prominence  as  a 
lone  high  and  nearlj  level  crested  bluff  quite  scpirated  from  the  side 
bluffs  of  the  valley  and  theret^re  cun^ipicuously  seen  at  a  distance  of 
many  miies  up  the  valle\  and  jet  more  observable  from  boats  passing 
along  Lake  Pepm  Major  StepI  en  H  Long  m  1817  ascended  this  hill 
or  bluff  called  in  his  journal  the  Crange  or  Barn  of  which  he  wrote 
From  the  summit  of  the  Grange  the  vieiv  of  the  surrounding  scenery 
IS  surpassed  perhaps  by  \er\  few  if  an\  of  a  similar  character  that  the 
countr;  and  probably  the  world  can  afford.  The  sublime  and  beautiful 
are  here  blended  in  the  most  enchanting  manner."  (M.  H.  S.  Collections, 
vol.  II,  page  45.) 

Other  bluffs  in  Red  Wing,  adjoining  the  western  border  of  the  river 
valley  or  forming  a  part  of  it,  include  Sorin's  bluff,  named  in  honor  of 


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212  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Eev.  Matthew  Sorin,  who  settled  here  in  1853,  was  the  first  treasurer  of 
this  county  and  the  second  president  of  the  trustees  of  Hamiine  Uni- 
versity, later  was  a  pastor  Jn  Missouri  and  Colorado,  and  died  in  1879; 
the  Twin  bluffs,  on  opposite  sides  of  a  street  leading  southwestward ; 
and  College  hill,  the  site  of  the  Red  Wing  Seminary. 

Jordan  bluff  in  Wacouta,  and  a  short  stream  and  ravine  called  Jordan 
creek  in  Red  Wing,  were  probably  named  for  a  pioneer. 

Post  bluff,  next  eastward  in  Wacouta,  commemorates  Abner  W.  and 
George  Post,  early  settlers  there. 

Waconia  b!uff,_  in  Florence,  rising  on  the  valley  side  west  of  Frontenae, 
bears  a  Sioux  name  meaning  a  fountain  or  spring,  from  a  spring  at 

Near  this  southeastward  is  Point  No-point,  "from  whose  summit  one 
may  see  the  whole  length  of  the  lake.  .  .  .  Persons  going  in  boats  down 
the  river  see  this  point  for  six  or  eight  miles,  while  the  boat  seems  all 
the  time  approaching  it,  yet  none  of  the  time  getting  any  nearer  till  just 
as  they  arrive  at  Frontenae."    (Mitchell,  1869,  p^es  96-97.) 

Sand  point,  translated  from  the  French  name,  Pointe  au  Sable,  is  a 
wave-built  spit  of  sand  and  gravel,  a  narrow  projection  of  the  shoreline 
jutting  half  a  mile  into  Lake  Pepin,  adjoining  Frontenae.  Wells  creek, 
here  flowing  into  the  lake,  was  called  "Sand  Point  R."  on  Nicollet's  map  in 
1843. 

Westward  from  Point  No-point,  the  large  and  high  area  of  Garrard 
bluff  in  the  northern  part  of  Florence,  between  the  railway  and  the  lake, 
was  named  in  honor  of  the  Garrard  brothers,  who  founded  and  named 
Frontenae  village.  After  they  had  first  visited  this  place  in  1854  on  a 
hunting  trip,  they  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  here,  several  thousand 

Louis  H.  Garrard  settled  at  Frontenae  in  1858,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  development  of  this  estate;  was  a  representative  in  the  legisla- 
ture in  1859;  removed  to  Lake  City  in  1870,  and  was  for  three  years  presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank  there;  resided  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  his 
native  city,  after  1880;  and  died  at  Lakewood,  N.  Y.,  July,  1887,  aged 
fifty-eight  years. 

The  older  brother,  Israel  Garrard,  was  born  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  Octo- 
ber 22,  1825 ;  and  died  at  his  home  in  Frontenae,  Minn,,  September  21, 
1901.  He  was  graduated  at  the  Harvard  law  school ;  settled  here  in  18S4, 
and  after  the  completion  of  the  land  purchase,  in  18S7-8,  built  the  family 
home,  St.  Hubert's  Lodge,  named  for  the  patron  saint  of  huntsmen.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  he  raised  a  troop  of  cavalry  in  Cincinnati; 
served  as  colonel  of  the  Seventh  Ohio  Cavalry  regiment,  and  was  pro- 
moted to  be  brigadier  general;  returned  here  in  1865,  and  was  widely 
known  for  his  liberality. 


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GRANT  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  6,  1868,  and  organized  in  1874,  was 
named  in  honor  of  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant,  whose  generalship  terminated 
the  Civil  War,  in  1865,  with  preservation  of  the  Union,  after  which  he 
was  president  of  the  United  States,  1869  to  1877.  He  was  born  at  Point 
Pleasant,  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  April  27,  1822;  and  dietj  at  Mount  Mc- 
Gregor, near  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  July  23,  1885.  Having  been  graduated  at 
West  Point  in  1843,  he  served  through  the  Mexican  war  of  1846-48;  left 
the  army  in  1854,  and  settled  in  St.  Louis;  and  removed  to  Galena,  Illi- 
nois, in  18C0.  He  entered  the  Civil  War  in  June,  1861,  as  a  colonel,  and 
on  April  9,  1865,  received  the  surrender  of  Lee,  which  ended  the  war. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  completion  of  the  building  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  railroad  across  the  continent.  General  Grant  visited  Minnesota, 
and  was  present  at  the  grand  celebration  held  in  St.  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis, September  3,  1883. 

Many  excellent  biographies  of  Grant  have  been  published.  One  of  his 
latest  biographers,  Louis  A.  Coolidge  in  1917,  writes;  "His  success  as 
President  in  setting  our  feet  firmly  in  the  paths  of  peace,  and  in  estab- 
lishing our  credit  with  the  nations  of  the  world,  is  hardly  less  significant 
than  his  success  in  war." 

The  grand  courage  displayed  in  his  last  severe  and  incurable  illness, 
when  during  the  final  months  of  his  life  he  diligently  toiled  with  the 
pen  in  the  completion  of  his  Memoirs,  to  win  a  competence  for  his  family, 
and  to  aid  toward  payment  of  creditors  after  great  financial  disaster, 
revealed  heroic  traits  of  his  character  which  could  never  otherwise  have 
found  expression. 

In  twelve  states  of  our  Union  counties  have  been  named  for  him.  In 
New  York  City  his  Tomb,  completed  in  1897,  has  been  rightly  called 
"the  most  imposing  memorial  structure  on  the  Western  Continent." 

Townships  akd  Villages. 

Information  of  geographic  names  in  this  county  has  been  gathered 
from  the  "Illustrated  Souvenir  of  Grant  County,"  by  W.  H,  Goetzinger, 
1896,  42  pages ;  "History  of  Douglas  and  Grant  -Counties,"  Constant  Lar- 
son, editor,  1916,  two  volumes  (pages  361-509  in  Volume  I  being  descrip- 
tion and  history  of  this  county)  ;  and  from  C.  M.  Nelson,  county  auditor, 
and  Hon.  Ole  0.  Canestorp,  interviewed  during  a  visit  at  Elbow  Lake, 
the  county  seat,  in  May,  1916. 

AsHBY,  the  railway  village  of  Pelican  Lake  township,  platted  in  1879, 
was  named  in  honor  of  Gunder  Ash,  a  pioneer  farmer  from  Norway, 
who  lived  close  east  of  the  village  site. 


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214  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

BASEiETT,  a  railway  village  in  section  12,  Lien,  platted  in  May,  1887, 
and  incorporated  in  1889,  and  the  adjoining  Barrett  lake,  commemorate 
Gen.  Theodore  Harvey  Barrett,  who  after  the  civil  war  owned  and  con- 
ducted an  extensive  farm  in  Grant  and  Stevens  counties,  residing  near 
Moose  Island  station  in  Stevens  county.  He  was  born  in  Orangeville, 
Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.,  August  27,  1834;  and  died  in  this  county  at  Her- 
man, July  20.  1900.  He  settled  in  St.  Qoud,  Minn,,  1S5G;  was  a  captain  in 
the  Ninth  Minnesota  regiment,  1862-3;  was  colonel  of  the  62d  U.  S. 
Colored  Infantry,  1864-5,  and  was  breveted  brigadier  general,  March 
13,  1865. 

CANESTcmp,  3  railway  station  one  mile  west  of  Elbow  Lake,  platted 
in  March,  1887,  was  named  for  Hon.  Ole  O.  Canestorp,  who  was  born 
in  Sweden,  May  21,  1847;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1862,  and  to  Min- 
nesota in  1871,  settling  at  Elbow  Lake;  was  judge  of  probate  of  this 
county,  1878-82,  county  treasurer,  1882-89,  and  a  state  senator,  1891-3  and 
1907-09.  He  died  at  his  home  March  24,  1917.  The  place  is  also  frequent- 
ly called  West  Elbow  Lake. 

Delaware  township,  organized  October  6,  1879,  was  named  by  pioneer 
settlers  from  that  state. 

Elbow  Lake  township,  organized  April  3,  1877,  received  its  name  from 
the  adjacent  lake  in  Sanford,  shaped  like  an  arm  bent  at  the  elbow,  to 
which  this  name  had  been  given  many  years  previously  by  early  traders 
and  immigrants.  Major  Samuel  Woods  and  Captain  John  Pope,  in  their 
expedition  in  the  summer  of  1849,  were  the  earliest  to  apply  this  name, 
which  they  each,  in  their  official  reports,  derived  from  the  shape  of  the 
lake. 

Elbow  Lake  village,  on  a  site  chosen  in  1874  to  be  the  county  seat, 
in  Sanford  township,  was  also  named  from  this  lake,  was  platted  October 
28,  1886,  and  was  organized  September  13,  1887. 

Elk  Lake  township,  organized  January  4,  1876,  was  named  for  its 
Elk  lake  and  Lower  Elk  lake,  tributary  to  the  Chippewa  river,  where  elk 
were  plentiful  before  agricultural  settlers  came.  The  route  of  Woods 
and  Pope  in  1849  passed  this  Elk  lake,  named  by  the  former  in  his  report, 
writing  "Here  we  saw  an  elk,  .    .    .  the  first  one  that  crossed  our  path." 

Erdahl,  organized  July  30,  1877,  was  "named  in  remembrance  of  a 
district  in  Norway,  from  which  some  of  the  early  settlers  had  come." 
The  same  name  was  home  also  by  a  pioneer  Lutheran  pastor  of  this 
county,  GuUik  M.  Erdahl,  who  was  born  in  Hardanger,  Norway,  October 
5,  1840,  and  came  to  America  at  the  age  of  seven  years  with  his  parents 
who  settled  in  Madison,  Wisconsin.  He  was  graduated  at  Luther  College, 
Decorah,  Iowa,  1866,  and  at  the  Concordia  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  1869; 
was  3  missionary  and  founder  of  churches  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and 
Iowa ;  was  pastor  of  five  congregations  in  this  county,  1875  to  1900,  and 
later  of  two  until  his  death  at  his  home  near  Barrett  on  March  25,  1914. 
The  railway  village  of  Erdahl  was  platted  in  October,  1887. 


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GRANT  COUNTY  215 

GoBTON,  organized  July  21,  1879,  received  the  name  given  by  officials 
of  the  railway  to  a  former  siding  in  this  township,  northwest  of  Nor- 

Herefobd,  a  railway  village  in  section  1,  North  Ottawa,  was  platted  in 
September,  1887.  The  History  of  the  county  notes  the  origin  of  this  name 
as  follows :  "In  1886,  when  the  railroad  was  about  to  estabUsh  a  station 
at  this  point,  it  was  the  intention  to  call  the  place  Culbertson,  in  honor  of 
the  man  who  owned  a  tract  of  land  there,  but  the  modest  man  said  that 
if  they  wished  to  compliment  him  in  any  way  to  cal!  the  place  'Hereford,' 
after  his  beautiful  herd  of  white-faced  cattle  kept  on  his  farm,  'Hereford 
Park,'  near  Newman,  Illinois.  Accordingly  the  place  was  so  christened." 
The  breed  of  cattle  came  from  a  county  so  named  in  western  England. 

Heemak,  the  railway  village  in  Logan,  platted  in  September,  1875, 
was  incorporated  March  15,  1881,  and  would  doubtless  have  been  chosen 
as  the  county  seat  if  its  location  were  near  the  center  of  the  county.  In 
1914  it  was  selected  by  the  State  Municipality  League,  on  account  of  its 
civic  merit,  as  the  "model  town"  of  Minnesota.  Its  name  was  given  by 
the  railway  officials,  in  honor  of  Herman  Trott,  land  agent  of  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company.  He  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
February  25,  1830 ;  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  December  29,  1903.  He  came  to 
this  state  in  1856,  and  settled  in  St.  Paul  two  years  later ;  removed  to  the 
state  of  Washington  in  1890,  but  returned  to  reside  in  St.  Paul  after  1899. 

Hoffman,  a  railway  village  in  Land  township,  platted  in  April,  1887, 
incorporated  June  23,  1891,  was  named  in  honor  of  Robert  C.  Hoffman, 
of  Minneapolis,  who  during  many  years  has  been  chief  engineer  of  the 
Minneapolis,  St.  Paul  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie  railway. 

Land  township,  organized  March  6,  1878,  was  named,  on  the  sugges- 
tion of  Erik  Olson,  a  Norwegian  farmer  there,  "for  the  town  of  Land, 
Wisconsin,  whence  some  of  the  early  settlers  had  come."  In  the  Nor- 
wegian language,  it  is  a  general  word  meaning  land  or  country. 

Lawrence  was  organized  March  29,  1880.  'The  first  settlers  .  .  . 
came  here  in  1870  from  St.  Lawrence  county.  New  York.  It  was  they  who 
gave  the  township  its  name  in  remembrance  of  their  former  home." 

Lien,  organized  July  28,  1874,  was  named  in  honor  of  Ole  E.  Lien, 
who  was  one  of  its  first  settlers,  coming  in  1867  or  1868.  He  was  born 
in  Norway;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1861,  settling  in  Minnesota, 
and  served  during  the  civil  war  in  the  Tenth  Minnesota  regiment. 

Logan,  first  settled  in  1871,  organized  July  29,  1874,  commemorates 
John  Alexander  Logan,  who  was  born  in  Jackson  county,  Illinois,  February 
9,  1826,  and  died  jn  Washington,  D.  C,  December  26,  1886.  He  served  in 
the  Mexican  war ;  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  1859-61 ;  was 
a  general  in  the  civil  war,  1861-5;  was  again  a  representative  in  Congress, 
1867-71.  and  a  senator,  1871-77  and  1879-86.  In  1884  he  was  the  Republican 
candidate  for  vice  president. 

Macsville,  organized  September  23,  1878,  was  named  in  compliment 
for   Francis  McNabb,   an   early   settler  and   chairman  of   the  first  board 


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216  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

of  supervisors  and  for  Tohn  McQuillan  another  early  'Jettler  who  was 
the  first  towii'ihip  clerk  also  for  Col!  McQellan  who  in  187S  was  chair 
man  of  the  board  uf  counts  commissioner'! 

NoklROSs  the  railwav  \iliage  in  Gorton  platted  in  December  ]88I 
and  incorporated  in  1903  received  its  name  from  Henry  AUyn  Norton 
and  Judson  Newell  Cross  of  Minneapolis  proprietors  of  the  village  site. 
Norton  was  born  in  B\ron  111  October  17  1838  died  rn  Minneapolis 
February  3  1906  He  served  in  the  army  1861  S  attaining  the  rank  of 
major,  resided  in  Chicago  until  1882  when  he  remoied  to  Minneapolis 
Cross  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York  Januarj  16  1838  died  in 
Minneapolis  August  31  1901  He  was  a  student  at  Oberlm  College 
when  the  cnil  war  began  enlisted  m  the  Seventh  Ohio  regiment  and 
during  the  farst  year  in  service  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain  in 
1864  was  made  adjutant  general  of  the  military  district  of  Indiana  After 
the  war  he  studied  law  and  m  1875  settled  in  Mmneapolis 

NoBTH  Ott*w\  was  organized  Julv  24  1882  Thomas  H  Toombs 
from  Ottawa  Illinois  gave  the  township  its  name  The  iirat  township 
meeting  was  held  at  his  house  and  he  was  then  elected  chairman  of  the 
supervisors 

Pelica\  Lake  township  organized  Tinuarj  4  1876  has  an  extensive 
lake  of  this  name  which  was  noted  for  the  large  flDcka  of  pelicans  found 
there  in  the  early  days  "  It  was  named  Lake  EUenora  on  the  earliest 
state  map  in  I860 

PoMME  DE  Terre  township  organized  Julj  17  1877  took  the  name  of 
the  large  lake  at  its  southeast  border  whence  also  the  Pomme  de  Terre 
river,  flowing  trom  it  to  the  Minnesota  river  was  named  It  i=  received 
from  the  earlj  French  loyageur'  and  traders  meaning  literally  apple  o£ 
the  earth  that  is  a  potato  but  it  was  here  applied  to  the  edible  ovoid 
shaped  root  of  the  Dakota  turnip  (Psoralea  escuienta)  called  Tipsinah 
by  the  Dakota  or  Siout  people  This  much  e  teemed  aboriginal  food 
plant,  very  valuable  to  these  Ind  ans  formerly  was  common  on  dry  and 
somewhat  gravelly  parts  of  upland  prairies  throughout  southw  estern 
Minnesota  The  old  village  of  Pjmme  de  Terre  in  section  24  platted  in 
1874,  was  the  first  Milage  in  the  counts,  now  superseded  by  railway  towns. 

RoSEViLLe  was  organized  July  24,  1878.  "Many  names  were  suggested 
.  .  .  but  the  settlers  finally  decided  upon  a  name  which  would  remind 
them  of  the  appearance  of  the  virgin  prairie  when  they  located  there, 
beautiful  with  thousands  of  wild  roses."     (History,  1916,  page  383.) 

Sanford,  organized  July  24,  1882,  was  named  by  the  county  commis- 
sioners in  honor  of  Henry  F.  Sanford,  who  was  the  first  settler  in  the 
township,  coming  here  in  1869.  He  was  bom  in  Pleasantville,  Pa.,  June 
2,  1845;  came  to  Minnesota,  and  served  in  Hatch's  Battalion  of  cavalry 
against  the  Sioux,  1863-6;  was  chairman  of  the  first  board  of  county 
commissioners,  1873;  and  was  county  auditor  in  1875-8  and  1887-91.  He 
was  killed  by  an  accident  in  New  Mexico  in  1914. 


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GRANT  COUNTY  217 

Stony  Brook  township,  first  settled  in  1870,  organized  July  30,  1877, 
derived  its  name  from  the  small  Stony  brook  and  lake  in  its  north  part, 
which  are  headwaters  of  Mustinka  river. 

Wej(Dell,  the  railway  village  in  Stony  Brook,  platted  in  July,  1889, 
and  incorporated  in  April,  1904,  received  its  name  from  the  railway 
officials  when  the  road  was  being  built,  with  location  of  a  depot  here,  in 
1887.  It  is  also  the  name  of  a  town  in  Massachusetts  and  a  village  in 
North  Carolina. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  foregoing  pages  have  noticed  Barrett  lake,  Elbow  and  Elk  lakes, 
Pelican  lake,  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river  and  lake,  and  Stony  brook. 

Mustinka  river  has  a  Dakota  or  Sioux  name,  meaning  a  rabbit,  the 
reference  being  to  the  common  white  rabbit,  which  also  is  called  the 
"varying  hare,"  because  its  fur  is  gray  in  summer  and  white  in  winter. 
The  Dakota  dictionaries  by  S.  R.  Riggs  (1852)  and  John  P.  Williamson 
(1902)  give  it  as  Mashtincha.  The  farger  jack  rabbit  or  hare,  also 
formerly  common  on  the  prairies  of  western  Minnesota  and  on  the  great 
plains  farther  west,  was  called  mashtintanka,  which  means  great  rabbit. 

Another  stream  of  this  county  is  named  Rabbit  river,  having  its  sources 
in  Lawrence  and  flowing  west  in  Wilkin  county  to  Bois  des  Sioux  river. 

Two  early  routes  or  trails  of  traders,  traveling  with  trains  of  Red 
river  carts  from  the  Selkirk  and  Pembina  settlements,  in  the  lower  Red 
river  valley,  to  St.  Cloud  and  St.  Paul,  passed  across  the  area  of  Grant 
county.  Both  are  delineated  on  the  state  map  of  1860,  the  more  northern 
passing  by  Pelican  lake,  then  called  Lake  EUenora,  and  the  central  route 
■  by  Elbow  lake.  A  more  southwestern  route  led  from  the  Red  and  Bois 
des  Sioux  rivers  to  the  Minnesota  valley  and  past  Swan  lake  and 
Traverse  des  Sioux  to  St.  Paul. 

Woods  and  Pope,  in  the  expedition  of  1849,  before  mentioned,  took 
the  middle  route,  passing  Elk  lake,  the  Little  Pomme  de  Terre  lake  (now 
named  Barrett  lake),  and  onward  northwest,  having  on  the  left  hand, 
successively.  Long,  Worm,  Elbow,  and  Lightning  lakes.  Three  of  these 
last  have  been  named  for  their  shape  or  outline,  the  most  remarkable 
being  Worm  lake,   of  very  irregular  and  wormlike  form. 

Lightning  lake,  in  Stony  Brook  township,  and  Upper  Lightning  lake, 
a  few  rniles  farther  northwest,  in  the  edge  of  Otter  Tail  county,  perhaps 
derived  their  names  from  an  incident  during  the  expedition  of  Woods  and 
Pope,  when  they  so  named  two  lakes  where  they  had  camped,  in  reference 
to  "a  stroke  of  lightning,  which  tore  in  pieces  one  of  the  tents,  and  pros- 
trated nearly  all  the  persons  who  were  in  the  camp."  (Pope's  Report, 
1850,  pages  18-19.)  But  the  detailed  narration  of  Pope  shows  that  their 
Lightning  lakes  were  those  now  named  Grove  lake  and  McCloud's  lake, 
in  Pope  county,  on  a  more  southeastern  part  of  the  route,  distant  about 
two  or  three  days'  journey  from  these  lakes.  In  a  paper  by  D.  S.  B. 
Johnston,  who  went  over  this  route  in  1857,  it  is  stated  that  the  Light- 


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218  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

ning  lake  of  Grant  county,  according  to  Pierre  Bottineau,  the  famous 
guide,  "took  its  name  from  a  man  in  a  former  expedition  being  struck 
by  lightning  and  killed."  {M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  XV,  1915,  page 
417.)  In  the  tradition  of  guides,  possibly  the  experience  of  the  expedi- 
tion in  1849  had  given  origin  to  a  misplaced  Lightning  lake  in  1857,  which 
has  been  permanently  retained. 

A  large  number  of  other  lakes  are  named  mostly  in  honor  of  early  set- 
tlers near  them,  or  for  trees,  as  Cottonwood  lake,  birds,  as  Cormorant  lake, 
or  other  animals,  as  Turtle  lake ;  or  for  their  size  or  outlines,  as  Big,  Horse- 
shoe, and  Eound  lakes.  These  are  noted  in  the  following  list,  arranged 
in  the  numerical  order  of  the  townships  and  ranges,  but  omitting  many 
lakes  of  relatively  small  size,  for  which  the  maps  have  no  names. 

Patchen,  Shauer,  and  Silver  lakes,  in  Roseville. 

Big  and  Cottonwood  lakes,  Burr,  Johnson,  Olstrud,  Neimackl,  Bar- 
rows, Graham,  and  Nelson  lakes,  in  Macsville. 

Pullman  lake,  adjoining  Herman,  named  for  Charles  Pullman,  pro- 
prietor of  the  first  hotel  there. 

Lake  Katrina  or  Sylvan  lake,  (bordered  by  a  grove),  Peterson,  Thomp- 
son, Torstenson,  EUingson,  Olson,  and  Retzhoff  lakes,  Round  lake.  Spring 
and  Turtle  lakes,  Church  lake  (beside  a  church),  and  Island  lake,  in  Elk 
Lake  township. 

Cormorant  lake,  Eide,  Huset,  and  Jones  lakes,  in  Lien. 

Moses  lake  or  slough,  in  Delaware. 

Island  and  Round  lakes,  in  Sanford. 

Four  Mile  lake  {so  far  from  the  old  Pomrae  de  Terre  stage  station), 
Field,  Horseshoe,  and  Scott's  lakes,  in  Pomme  de  Terre  township,  of  which  . 
the  second  and  fourth  were  named  for  adjacent  farmers. 

Stony  Brook  lake,  in  sections  3  and  10  of  Stony  Brook  township. 

Stony  lake,  in  section  12,  Lawrence,  and  Ash  lake  in  sections  24  and  25 
of  this  township,  the  last  being  named  for  an  early  immigrant  farmer 
from  England. 

Herman  and  Norcross  Beaches  of  Lake  Agassiz. 
From  their  excellent  development  near  Herman  and  at  Norcross,  the 
first  and  uppermost  beach  and  the  secotid  beach,  which  is  next  lower,  ot 
the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,  received  their  names  as  respectively  the  Her- 
man and  Norcross  beaches  or  shore  lines.  Along  northern  parts  of  this 
great  ancient  lake,  which  filled  the  Red  river  valley,  as  more  fully  noticed 
in  the  first  chapter  of  this  volume  (pages  7,  8),  each  of  these  beaches  is 
divided,  on  account  of  the  northwarduplift  of  the  land  during  the  existence 
of  the  lake,  into  two  or  several  beaches,  distinct  and  separate  strand  lines 
at  small  vertical  intervals,  which  there  are  distingu  si  ed  a  the  upper  and 
lower  Herman  beaches,  or  the  first,  second,  third  et  and  1  kew  se  the 
upper  and  lower  Norcross  beaches.  The  earliest  pub!  hed  u  e  of  these 
names  is  in  the  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Ge  1  g  I  Su  ey  ot 
Minnesota,   for   1882. 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY 


Q 

N       W 


M  908 

D  H 

this  state,  with  biographic  sketches  of  these  great  pToneers  of  New  France. 

Two   hundred  years   after  Hennepin  visited   and   named  the   falls   of 

the  Mississippi  at  the  center  of  the  present  city  of  Minneapolis,  a  great 

celebration  was  held  there  by  tVie  Minnesota  Historical  Society  and  the 


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220  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

people  of  the  Twin  Cities,  on  the  grounds  of  the  State  University,  within 
view  of  the  falls,  on  Saturday,  July  3,  1880.  The  description  of  this  Hen- 
nepin Bi-Centenary  celebration,  and  the  addresses  of  Governor  C.  K. 
Davis,  Governor  Ramsey,  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  and  Archbishop  Ire- 
land, with  a  poem  by  A.  P.  Miller,  are  published  in  the  M.  H.  S.  Collec- 
tions (vol.  VI,  pages  29-?4). 

The  name  of  Hennepin,  instead  of  Sneliing,  which  latter  had  been 
proposed  by  Colonel  John  H.  Stevens  in  the  original  bill,  was  adopted 
for  this  county  on  request  of  Martin  McLeod,  member  of  the  Territorial 
Council. 

Townships,  Villages,  and  Minneapolis. 

The  origins  and  meanings  of  these  names  have  been  gathered  mostly 
from  the  "Geographical  and  Statistical  History  of  the  County  of  Henne- 
pin," by  W.  H.  Mitchell  and  Col.  John  H.  Stevens,  1868,  149  pages; 
"History  of  Hennepin  County  and  the  City  of  Minneapolis,"  by  George 
E.  Warner  and  Charles  M.  Foote,  1881,  713  pages ;  "History  of  Minneapo- 
lis, edited  by  Judge  Isaac  Atwater,  and  Hennepin  County,  edited  by 
Colonel  John  H.  Stevens,"  189S,  two  volumes,  continuously  paged,  14W 
pages;  "Compendium  of  History  and  Biography  of  Minneapolis  and  Hen- 
neoin  County,"  by  Return  I.  Holcombe  and  William  H.  Bingham,  1914, 
584  pages;  and  from  Hon.  John  B.  Gilfillan,  Dr.  Lysander  P.  Foster,  and 
Major  Edwin  Clark,  each  of  Minneapolis,  the  second  and  third  being 
respectively  president  and  secretary  of  the  Hennepin  County  Territorial 
Pioneers'  Association. 

Bloomington  township,  first  settled  in  1843,  organized  May  11,  18S8, 
was  the  home  of  bands  of  the  Dakotas,  "those  of  Good  Road  and  Man 
of  the  Clouds.  They  occupied  the  bluff  on  the  river  near  the  residence 
of  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond."  The  name  was  given  by  settlers  from  Illinois, 
who  came  in  18S2.  Twelve  other  states  have  villages  and  cities  of  this 
name,  the  two  largest  being  in  Illinois  and  Indiana. 

Brooklvw  township,  settled  in  1852,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was 
named  by  pioneers  from  southern  Michigan,  who  came  in  1853,  for  the 
former  township  and  present  railway  village  of  Brooklyn  in  that  state, 
about  twenty  miles  northwest  of  Adrian. 

Brooklyn  Center  is  an  incorporated  village,  mainly  a  farming  area, 
adjoining  the  northwest  corner  of  Minneapolis. 

CHAMEtiN,  first  settled  in  1852,  organized  May  II,  1858,  was  named 
from  its  village,  platted  in  1853,  opposite  to  Anoka  and  the  mouth  of 
Rura  river.  It  bears  a  personal  surname,  but  why  it  came  to  be  applied 
to  this  village  and  the  township  remains  to  be  learned.  No  other  place 
in  the  United  States  is  so  named.  A  farmer  of  Vernon  Center,  in  Blue 
Earth  county,  Ezra  T.  ChampHn,  born  in  Ferrisburg,  Vt„  April  2,  1839, 
came  to  this  state  in  1860;  served  in  the  Third  Minnesota  regiment  in 
the  civil  war,  attaining  the  rank  of  captain;  and  was  a  representative  in 
the  legislature  in  18?5,  "1887,  and  1891,  being  speaker  of  the  House  in 
1891. 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  221 

CoRC(«[AN,  settled  in  18SS,  organized  May  II,  1858,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Patrick  B.  Corcoran,  who  was  the  first  school  teacher  here,  the  first 
merchant,  and  first  postmaster.  He  was  highly  commended  as  a  good 
citizen  by  Colonel  Stevens.  He  was  born  in  Ireland,  182S ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1847,  and  to  this  coimty  in  1855,  being  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers  of  this  township. 

Crystal  village,  as  it  is  now  named,  incorporated  January  11,  1887, 
would  be  more  suitably  termed  a  small  township,  under  which  form  of 
government  it  was  organized  Apr-'  '.  1860,  being  then  called  Crystal 
Lake,  It  has  the  Twin  lakes  and  the  smaller  Crystal  lake,  which  boasts 
"a  good  depth  of  water  and  better  shores."  Besides  the  title  of  the  town- 
ship and  village,  its  Crystal  prairie,  four  miles  long  and  a  mile  wide,  but 
dotted  originally  with  many  small  groves,  like  islands,  was  also  named 
from  the  lake. 

Dayton  township,  settled  in  1851,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was  named, 
like  its  village,  platted  in  1855,  in  honor  of  Lyman  Dayton,  of  St.  Paul, 
one  of  the  original  proprietors.  He  was  born  in  Southington,  Conn., 
August  25,  1810;  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  October  20.  1865.  He  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1849,  and  invested  largely  in  real  estate;  was  the  projector 
and  president  of  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  railroad  (later  named 
St.  Paul  and  Duluth). 

Deephaven,,  a  village  in  Excelsior  and  Minnetonka,  founded  about 
1880,  was  named  for  its  excellent  harbor. 

Edek  Prairie  township,  settled  in  1852,  organized  in  1858,  had  a  fine 
natural  prairie  in  its  southern  portion.  "The  town  was  named,  in  1853, 
by  a  Mrs.  Elliot,  who  gave  it  the  name  Eden,  in  expressing  her  admir- 
ation of  this  beautiful  prairie."  (History,  1881,  page  231.)  The  reference 
should  be  for  Mrs.  Elizabeth  F.  Ellet,  an  author  of  national  reputation, 
who  visited  Lake  Minnetonka  in  August,  1852,  less  than  three  months 
after  it  was  visited  and  named  by  Governor  Ramsey.  Other  names 
proposed  by  her,  for  bays  and  a  point  of  Minnetonka  are  noted  on  a  later 
page  in  this  chapter. 

Edina,  a  southwestern  village  suburb  of  Minneapolis,  was  incorpo- 
rated December  18,  1888,  havii^  been  previously  a  part  of  Richfield.  Its 
name  was  derived  from  the  Edina  flouring  mil!,  owned  by  Andrew  and 
John  Craik,  who  so  named  the  mill  in  memory  of  their  boyhood  home, 
in  or  near  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

Excelsior,  organized  May  II,  1858,  "owes  its  name  and  settlement  to 
a  colony,  under  the  title  of  the  Excelsior  Pioneer  Association,"  which 
was  formed  in  New  York  City,  November  12,  18S2.  "They  were  headed 
by  George  M.  Bertram  and  arrived  in  the  summer  of  1853."  The  colony 
adopted  this  name  in  allusion  to  Longfellow's  world-famous  short  poem, 
"Excelsior,"  which  was  written  September  28,  I84I,  and  was  published  a 
few  days  later. 

Golden  Valley,  a  western  suburb  of  Minneapolis,  euphoniously  named 
for  its  beautiful  valley  inclosing  a  small  and  narrow  lake,  was  incorpo- 


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MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 


t  d  D      mb      17   1886       d            "l 

11  g      1     t       (1      gh  -t  ■      hi  fly 

mg         mtylthdb        f 

1}  th      th    f  p  t   f  y 

pit         1  p 

Green              ttl  d       IS'!'?      g 

d  M  y  11    1858   t     k  th                  f 

Em        11  e    wh   1      p   ed  t    b 

ty  pi  tt  d  b    Tl    m      -^  H  1 

d         f  m     y  t  w     )        d     th 

tl           t        f  1856  7     It     as 

p        d  d  by  R    kf     d          th 

W    ght          t^      d      f  th     C    w 

abt      mlbl       thG        wdtyt         Tl          g        fth 

h     h    m    g    pp                 1 

th    w     dl^nd                  by  th    fit 

tl              th          lyd           f      mm 

(H   t  rj    1881   p  g    311) 

H        EL                1        J         11   g                    t 

1     M  d        f       d  d       1886 

m  d  f     JO       d  W  11    m  Ham  1 

n     h    t    th 

H             fi    t     ttl  d       1854      g 

d  Ap  M  1860              d  t        m 

D  k  t         S                d     h     1 

m  an    g    h         g            p!     t 

h        t          h           f    m  h         th 

wh     tl  b      y          h     kl  b      y      1 

b             th  t        h    t       h       g 

m !     Ij     w     t      p)      C  n               ty 

tip           d  Ch     h              1 

th     f  L  k    \I         t     k         t 

d  t       yea           !           d      ga       d 

1858      N  t  t           fl    t  w  th  th  t 

tl  d  t 

m     th      jU  bl    m         g  t       w      h  m  tt  d 

H  h  rt  1     d     II  g    pi  tt  d       185  t         S4      d  3'? 

Eden  Prairie,  on 'the  Minnesota  river,  was  during  several  years  a  shipping 
point  for  grain. 

Hopkins,  a  railway  village  in  St  Louis  Park.  Edina,  and  Minnetonka, 
was  named  in  honor  of  Harley  H.  Hopkins,  its  postmaster.  He  was  born 
in  1824 ;  came  to  this  county  in  1855 ;  engaged  in  farming  on  a  part  of  the 
village  site ;  died  in  Minneapolis,  February  19,  1882, 

Independence,  settled  in  1854-S,  organized  May  11,  1858,  bears  the  name 
of  the  largest  one  of  its  several  lakes.  "The  lake  derived  its  name  from 
a  party  of  Fourth  of  July  excursionists.  Kelsey  Hinman,  one  of  the 
party,  named  it  Lake  Independence,  in  honor  of  the  national  holiday." 
(History,  1881,  page  263.) 

Long  Lake,  a  Great  Northern  railway  village  in  Orono,  was  named 
for  the  adjoining  Long  lake,  one  of  our  most  abundant  lake  names. 

LoRETTO,  a  Soo  railway  village  in  section  6,  Medina,  founded  in  1886, 
was  named  from  a  Roman  Catholic  mission  for  refugees  of  the  Huron 
Indians  near  Quebec,  Canada,  called  Lorette,  founded  and  named  in  1673, 
and  from  the  village  of  Loretto,  Kentucky,  where  a  society  of  Catholic 
"Sisters  of  Loretto  at  the  Foot  of  the  Cross"  was  founded  in  1812.  Many 
schools  are  conducted  by  members  of  this  society  in  the  central  and 
southern  United  States.  The  original  source  of  the  name  is  Loreto,  a 
small  town  in  Italy,  which  has  a  noted  shrine  of  pilgrimage.  (Catholic 
Encyclopedia,  vol.  IX,  1910,  pages  360-361;  vol.  XIII,  1912,  pages  454-6.) 

Maple  Grove  township,  first  settled  in  1851,  organized  May  11,  1858, 
and  Maple  Plain,  a  railway  village  in  Independence,  platted  in  1868, 
when  the  railway  construction  was  completed  to  that  station,  were  both 
named  for  the  abundance  of  the  hard  or  sugar  maple  in  their  forests. 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  223 

Medina,  settled  in  1854,  organized  May  11,  1858,  had  been  previously 
called  Hamburg  by  the  county  commissioners,  which  name  was  then 
changed  to  Medina  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  thirty-seven  settlers 
present.  This  name  of  a  city  in  Arabia,  where  Mohammed  spent  his 
last  ten  years  and  died,  is  borne  by  villages  and  townships  in  eight  states 
of  our  Union,  and  by  counties  in  Ohio  and  Texas. 

MiNNEAPOUS,  founded  by  Col.  John  H.  Stevens,  builder  of  the  first 
house  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  here  in  !849-S0,  organized  as  a 
township  May  11,  1858,  was  transformed  in  1886  to  the  village  organiz- 
ations of  Golden  Valley  tiid  St.  Louis  Park,  excepting  the  eastern  part 
of  the  township,  which  had  been  comprised  in  the  city  area.  On  the 
original  site  of  thia  city  plattmg  of  \dlage  lots  '^as  begun  in  the  spring  of 
1854  by  Steiens  to  whah  other  plats  «ere  added  in  1854-5  The  state 
legislature  m  an  act  approved  March  1  1856  authorized  a  town  govern 
ment  with  a  council  which  wa^  inaugurated  Juh  20  18'i8  The  city  of 
Minneapolis  was  mcorporated  under  in  act  of  March  2  1866  and  its 
first  elect  on  of  ofticef;  was  held  tehruarj  19  18ri7  It  was  enlarged 
through  union  of  the  former  cities  of  Minntap  1  ^  and  St  \nthonj  by 
a  legislative  act  approved  February  28  1872  and  the  new  citj  council 
was  organized  April  9   1872 

The  earliest  announcement  ind  recommendation  of  this  name  was 
brought  by  Charles  Hoag  to  the  editor  of  the  St  At  thonj  Express 
George  D  Bowman  on  the  dty  of  its  publication  November  5  1852 
It  was  then  published  w  thout  time  for  editorial  comment  which  was 
very  fa\orabl}  given  in  the  next  issue  on  November  13  Soon  this  new 
name  compounded  from  Minneh-Uia  and  the  Greek  polis  citi  dis 
placed  the  v  annus  earlier  names  which  had  attained  more  or  less  temporarj 
acceptance,  including  All  Saints,  proposed  by  James  M.  Goodhue  of  the 
Minnesota  Pioneer,  Hennepin,  Lowell,  Brooklyn,  Albion,  and  others. 

The  distinguished  parts  borne  by  both  Hoag  and  Bowman  in  this  oppor- 
tune coinage  of  the  name  Minneapolis  have  been  many  times  related  with 
gratitude  to  Hoag  for  the  bright  idea  and  to  Bowman  for  his  effective 
advocacy  of  it  by  h  i  newspaper 

But  a  new  claim  for  the  origination  of  the  name  by  Bowman  during 
a  horseback  ride  from  St  Anthony  to  Marine  Mills  on  the  St  Croit 
river  was  published  in  the  summer  of  1915  b>  a  posthumous  letter  of 
Benjamin  Drake  Sr  a  cou'in  of  Bowman  printed  oi  page  158j  in 
Volume  III  of  the  late  Captain  Henrj  A  CasHe  s  Histors  of  Minnesota 
The  circumstantial  evidences  of  truthfulness  there  shown  for  Bowman  as 
the  first  to  receive  the  mspiration  of  uniting  Minnehaha  and  polls 
to  form  this  city  name   seem  quite  conclusive 

It  is  probable  however  that  Bowman  had  ment  on ed  this  idea  to  his 
friend  Mr  Hoag  and  that  some  dajs  or  weeks  later  when  Hoag  had 
entirelv  forgotten  this  it  maj  have  come  again  to  his  mind  and  been 
thoi^ht  new  and  original  vtith  himself  immediateh  before  his  writing 
the  short   article  b\    whith  thi'!  name  was  proposed  m   No\  ember    1852 


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i/  NNESOTA  GEOGRAPH  C  \AMES 


pj  bHhBGfi  9dh 

P  w  w    k 

K        whpfi  ttd         h  g  82g 

A  858  d  d  g      g       k      Th 

dd  kbh  wSbwh 

h  R    B  m  ead    g  figi  1  ry 

dmpSg  md  h  m 

mdb  Fm  mg  dmgnfidd        p 

Kingh  dS  gpd  d 

MShHgSm  khghw 

nmd  hw  h       mp 

Tutv  84N  mp  p  hgn 

bd  dgpdfid  bmh  ra  mh 

d       m      d  d  wh  g         wh  m 

d       d  tim  k 

h  g  hfh  rtwhwhmN 

wm  qdBca  hS  r> 

ddwhmg  TdSd 

Md  8  dbCgth  thai 

d  edbmdd  dh  fih 

w  b        d      H         G  H   k 

H  h  ty  89      h  h       w 

h  bSmS  andC  AT  Ap8 

w  dTwd  h  tuhSAnhnEp 

h  d  an  d    P  h   h 


k  pan  m  m  S 

Anthony  and  St.  Paul.  An  article  by  Goodhue  in  his  newspaper,  the 
Minnesota  Pioneer,  for  July  1,  says :  "The  lake  was  named  by  Governor 
Ramsey,  Minnetonka,  or  'Big  Water,*  who  expressed  great  admiration 
of  the  beauties  of  the  country  surrounding." 

Minne  (also  spelled  mini)  is  the  common  Sioux  word  for  water,  and 
tonka  (also  spelled  tanka)  is  likewise  their  common  word  meaning  big  or 
great;  but  the  name  thus  compounded  seems  not  to  have  been  used  by  the 
Sioux  till  Ramsey  coined  it  for  the  lake.     So  far  as  we  have  records,  in- 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  225 

d    d    th     S  r  Dakota  people  appear  to  have  had  no  term  for  this 

1    g         d  y  f  atured  body  of  water. 

JI       ETO  Beach  is  a  railway  village  of  summer  hotels  and  homes, 

th  th      d     of  the  lake,  between  Crystal   and   Lafayette  bays,   in 

0 

M         TR!  ettled  in  1854,  organized  in  the  spring  of  1859,  was  at 

fit  d  G    m  n  Home  by  the  county  commissioners,  but  was  changed 

t     th     p  t       me  by  vote  of  the  settlers  at  tlie  date  of  organization, 

S  1       m      were  proposed  and  rejected.     The  name  of  Minnetrista 

fi  ily  p  p  ed  and  accepted;  Minne  (meaning  waters)  and  trista 
(  g  k  d)  ;  and  from  the  fact  that  the  town  contained  so  many 

k  d  1  k  th  name  was  considered  as  the  most  appropriate."  (His- 
t     >    1881  p  g    ■^.) 

T  b  ra  d  finite,  this  name  seems  to  have  been  chosen  primarily  in 
allusion  to  the  very  irregular  and  curiously  zigzag  outline  of  Whale 
Tail  lake,  which  thus  not  only  suggested  its  own  name,  but  also  this 
name  for  the  township.  Another  lake  of  curious  crookedness,  in  sections 
5  and  6,  is  called  Ox  Yoke  lake,  from  its  shape.  Minnetrista  is  partly  of 
Dakota  derivation,  in  its  first  half;  but  trista  is  not  found  in  either  the 
Dakota  or  Ojibway  languages.  It  is  another  example  of  words  coined 
by  white  men,  as  if  used  by  Indians.  The  letter  r,  occurring  in  trista,  is 
not  employed  by  Riggs  or  Baraga  itt  their  dictionaries  of  these  aboriginal 
languages;  nor  are  their  words  meaning  crooked  similar  in  sound  with 
trista,  which  we  may  therefore  think  to  be  of  Yankee  invention,  to  signify 
twisted  or  twister. 

Mound,  a  railway  village  of  summer  homes,  with  other  homes  of  per- 
manent residents,  in  Minnetrista,  on  and  rear  the  northwestern  shore  of 
Lake  Minnetonka,  is  named  for  its  aboriginal  mounds.  Three  groups  of 
these  mounds  within  the  area  of  the  village,  mapped  by  Winchell,  have 
respectively  four,  eighteen,  and  nine  mounds;  and  at  the  distance  of  about 
a  mile  westward  is  a  remarkable  series  of  sixty-nine  mounds,  on  the 
north  side  of  Halsted's  bay.  (Aborigines  of  Minnesota,  1911,  pages  224-6, 
with  maps  of  these  mound  groups.) 

Around  all  the  shores  of  Lake  Minnetonka,  and  on  some  of  its  islands, 
are  many  mounds,  mostly  in  groups.  The  aggregate  number  of  these 
mounds  mapped  and  described  by  Winchell,  in  the  work  cited  (pages  224- 
242,  with  36  maps  or  plats),  is  495,  in  more  than  thirty  groups,  whjch 
range  in  their  separate  numbers  from  two  or  three  up  to  98  mounds. 

Oeono  township  was  organized  in  1889,  having  previously  been  the 
south  half  of  Medina.  The  name,  adopted  from  the  township  and  village 
of  the  same  name  in  Maine,  was  suggested  by  citizens  who  had  come  to 
Minnesota  from  that  state.  Several  years  before  this  township  was  organ- 
ized and  named,  George  A.  Brackett,  of  Minneapolis,  purchased  for  his 
summer  home  a  point  on  this  part  of  the  lake  shore,  before  called  Star- 
vation point,  which  he  then  renamed  as  Orono  point.  In  an  address  by 
Hon.  Israel  Washbura,  Jr.,  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  Orono,  Maine, 


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226  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

on  March  3,  1874,  this  name  is  stated  to  have  been  borne  by  a  prominent 
chief  of  the  Penobscot  Indians,  who  was  born  in  1688  and  died  Februarj 
S,  1801,  aged  113  years.  Washburn  wrote:  "Orono  was  always  inclined 
to  peace  and  good  neighborhood.  .  .  .  What  the  f,rand  and  sonorous 
name  he  bore  signified,  or  whence  it  was  derived,  I  hi\e  never  heard 

OsSEO,  a  village  in  Brooklyn  and  Maple  Grove  townships  platted  m 
1856,  occupies  a  part  of  Bottineau  prairie,  where  P  erre  Bottineau  the 
noted  half-breed  guide,  took  his  landi  claim  in  1852.  The  \illage  remained 
under  the  township  governments  .  .  .  until  the  spr  ng  of  187^  when  it 
was  incorporated  by  act  of  Legislature."  The  source  of  the  name  is 
"The  Song  of  Hiawatha,"  by  Longfellow,  published  in  18S5    which  pre 

t    th     t  ry    f  O  f  th    E         g  St        t  Id  by  1  goo    t    I 

ddgfH        th         dM       hi         Tl  m  dlkw 

f    m  L     gf  II  w       b  1     bj      II  g  M   I  g  d  W 

P  M  H  fa  t  ttl  d  O  t  b  1853  g  d  M  y  11  1858  t  k 
th         m       f    t        II  g    p  ly  pi  tted         P    k         Ik  1856    b  t 

th         11  g     w  ly     f     h     t   d       t  t      t   w   h  tl      t  w     h  p 

m        hchhw  fth       ttl         tfitwhdthgt 

M  d  L  k        L  k       II   th     m     y  PI  ra     tl        f  th     U    t  d   St  t 

mm  m      t      th       tj     f  PI  th    t  th  th     £  th    R         Plym 

D  h         E  gl     d    wl  th     P  Ig,    m  tl      M     fl  I  d  in 

1620  t    th      t      f  Plym     th  M         1     d    g  tl  b     Id        f  w    Id 

11  d  Plym     th  R    k 

E    H    EL       ttl  d      1849  5       g         d  M      11  1858  w     tl  m  d 

by       t       f  th     p    pi  p    f  t     R  H     d     t     p  m 

Tw  1        th        t  t      h        R   hfi  !d  t  w    h  p        II  g  t 

Ro  b    b         II  g      d]         g  M         p  I  th        rtl 

wt  mdf       \dwBRhb  hphdidth 

1887      d  pi  tt  d  tl        II  g     wh   I       f  I  t     w  p      t  d 

RoG         tl  I     y     11  g      f  H  w  m  d  b      fh  f  th 

G      t  N     th  Iw  y       mp     y 

S\h  ptd  tyMh^   1855       d   t        tly    g 

hh  g         d  t         hpMyll    1858  d  th        m 

f  th      dj        t  f  II      f  th    M  pp     wh   h  H        p  1680        h 

w    t  II  d  U     F  11      f  bt   A  t!      y     £  P  d  g    1 1  d     f      th 

f  d  by  tl      Al     gl  ty  tl        gh  th        t  {  th  t  g      t 

twhm        hdh  pt  dptt        fll  tp 

St  A  tl  b  Lb  1195   b      m        F  ca     f  t  th 

gttwtjth  dpthltfiy  tt 

P  d      It.  I     wh       h    d    d       1  11 

S     An  H        F  pi  tt  d  II  g        1849       d  w         d  d  d 

R  m    y  tj       1 1  M      h  4    1856      4    th      pi  t        1848  9       m  d 

St   Autl      y  C  ty       mp       d  th       t       f  th     St  t    U  ty       d     dj 

g  th      tw    d  wh   I   1  t     w      p  p  1    ly      II  d    Ch         t  w 

in  honor  of  William  A.  Cheever,  a  pioneer  who  settled  there  in  1847, 
builder  of  an  observatory  tower. 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  227 

An  act  of  the  Legislature,  "consolidating  the  cities  of  St.  Anthony 
and  Minneapolis,  and  iacorporating  the  same  into  one  city  by  the  name 
of  Minneapolis,"  was  approved  February  28,  !8?2, 

St.  BoNiFACiUs,  a  railway  village  in  Minnetrista,  was  named  from  its 
Catholic  church,  consecrated  to  St.  Boniface,  the  Apostie  of  the  Germans. 
.  He  was  born  in  Devonshire,  England,  about  680,  the  son  of  a  West 
Saxon  chieftain;  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  710;  went  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Bavaria  in  720,  and  became  archbishop  of  Mentz ;  resigned  that 
position  as  primate  of  Germany  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years,  resumed 
his  missionary  work,  and  in  the  next  year  suffered  "martyrdom  at  the 
hands  of  the  pagans  of  Utrecht."  The  name  Bonifacius  is  Latin,  mean- 
ing "of  good  fate  or  fortune." 

St.  Louis  Park,  a  suburban  village  adjoining  the  west  side  of  Minne- 
apolis, was  formerly  included  in  Minneapolis  township.  It  was  incor- 
porated October  4,  1886,  being  named  in  allusion  to  the  Minneapolis  and 
St.   Louis   railway. 

Tonka  Bay,  a  summer  village  having  a  large  hotel,  north  and  west 
of  Gideon  bay,  in  Excelsior,  bears  a  name  abbreviated  from  Minnetonka. 

Wayzata,  a  village  in  sections  5  and  6,  Minnetonka,  lying  on  the  north 
side  of  Wayzata  bay,  was  platted  in  1854,  and  was  incorporated  in  1884. 
This  name  was  formed  by  slight  change  from  Waziyata,  a  Dakota  (Sioux) 
word,  meaning  "at  the  pines,  the  north."  Wazi  is  defined  as  "a  pine, 
pines";  and  Wazis^,  "the  northern  god,  or  god  of  the  north;  a  fabled 
giant  who  lives  at  the  north  and  blows  cold  out  of  his  mouth.  He  draws 
near  in  winter  and  recedes  in  summer."  The  suffix  ta,  denotes  "at,  to, 
on."  (Riggs,  Dictionary  of  the  Dakota  Language,  1852,  pages  192,  239.) 
The  name  Wayzata,  originated  by  white  men,  refers  to  the  location,  at 
the  north  side  of  the  east  end  of  Lake  Minnetonka;  not  to  pine  trees, 
which  are  found  nearest,  in  very  scanty  numbers,  on  the  Mississippi 
bluffs  at  Dayton,  and  on  Bassett's  and  Minnehaha  creeks  in  Minneapolis. 

Fort  Snel  F  h 

The  naming  o 
names.    First,  wh  g  m 

with  Colonel  Lea  th 

fall   and    winter,  ca         m 

barracks  of  log-ho  D  ty 

Minnesota  river,  a  m 

fort.    St  Peter's  k  E 

river.    It  was  als  N        H  d  h 

future  of  this  out 

At  the  time  of     g  g  m 

pelled  to  remove  tl  m      g 

upland    prairie,    a 
springs  of  clear  an  ff 


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228  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

that  second  camp  ground  which  was  mostly  of  tents  named  Camp 
Cold  Water 

After  three  years  ol  ahernation  in  cibn  and  tent  life  at  New  Hope 
and  Camp  Cold  \^ate^  the  troops  moved  into  tteir  barracks  within  the 
mclosure  of  the  fort  in  the  late  autumn  of  1822  Its  corner  ^tone  had 
been  laid  September  10  1820  soon  after  Colonel  Snell  n£[  succeeded 
Leavenworth  m  the  Lommand  and  its  construction  was  well  completed 
m  1824  when  General  Winfield  Scott  Msited  it  in  May  or  earh  June 
on  a  tour  of  mspection  of  western  armj  posts  Up  to  that  time  and  til! 
the  beginning  of  1825  it  was  called  Fort  St  Anthony  in  allusion  to  the 
ne  ghbormg  St  Anthonj  falls 

In  the  report  of  the  tour  of  review  and  inspection  dated  at  We  t 
Point  November  1824  Ciener-il  ^cott  wrote  m  part  as  follows  concern 
ing  Fort  St  Anthony  I  wiah  to  suggest  to  the  general  n-chief  and 
through  him  to  the  War  Department  the  propriety  of  calling  this  work 
Port  Snellmg  as  a  just  compliment  tn  the  meritorious  officer  under  whom 
It  has  been  erected  The  present  name  is  foreign  to  all  our  associations 
and  IS  besides  geographically  incorrect  as  the  work  stands  at  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Mississippi  and  Saint  Peter  s  ri  ers  eight  miles  below  the 
great  falls  of  the  Mississippi  called  after  Saint  A.nthin>  Some  few 
years  su  ce  the  Secretary  of  War  directed  that  the  work  at  the  Ciuncil 
Bluffs  should  be  called  Fort  '\tkinson  in  compliment  to  the  \aluahle 
services  of  General  Atk  nson  on  the  upper  Missouri  The  abo\e  propo 
sition  IS  made  on  tke  same  principle 

In  accordance  with  this  recommendation  it  was  directed  in  W  ar 
Department  General  Orders  No  1  dated  January  7  182S  that  the  mili 
tarj  post  on  the  Mississippi  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saint  Peter  s  theretofore 
called  Fort  Saint  Anthony,  be  thereafter  designated  and  known  as  Fort 
Snelling."  (Letter  of  Gen.  Henry  P,  McCain,  U  S.  Adjutant  General, 
Sept  24,  191S.) 

Josiah  Snelling  was  born-  in  Boston,  Mass.,  1782 ;  and  died  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  August  20,  1828.  He  was  commissioned  first  lieutenant  in 
the  Fourth  Infantry,  U.  S.  Army,  1808;  served  in  the  War  of  1812;  was 
promoted  to  be  colonel  of  the  Fifth  Infantry,  1819;  took  command  of 
Fort  St.  Anthony  in  1820,  and  in  the  next  three  years  erected  its  perma- 
nent buildings.  In  1827  his  regiment  was  removed  to  SL  Louis,  (Much 
history  of  the  officers  and  their  families  at  Fort  St.  Anthony,  especially  for 
Col.  and  Mrs.  Snelling,  is  given  in  a  paper  contributed  by  the  present 
writer  to  the  Magazine  of  History,  vol.  XXI,  pages  25-39,  July,  1915.) 

Lakes  and  Streams. 


The  first  chapter  has  given  attention  to  the  origins  of  the  names  of  the 
Mississippi,  Minnesota,  and  Crow  rivers,  which  together  form  two-thirds 
of  the  boundary  inclosing  this  county. 

Islands  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  area  of  Minneapolis,  in  their  descend- 
ing order,  include  Boom  island,  where  log  booms  formerly  retained  the 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  229 

lumbermen's  logs  until  they  were  gradually  supplied  to  the  sawmills ; 
Nicollet  island,  a  residential  portion  of  the  city,  named,  like  an  avenue, 
m  honor  of  the  French  explorer  and  geographer,  Joseph  Nicolas  Nicollet; 
Hennepin  island,  named  also  like  an  avenue  and  like  this  county;  Catar- 
act island  and  Carver's  island,  just  below  the  falls,  the  latter  being  named 
for  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  who  visited  the  falls  in  1766;  Spirit  island, 
close  below  the  preceding,  formerly  a  high  remnant  of  the  rock  strata, 
held  in  awe  by  the  Indians ;  and  Meeker  island,  an  alluvial  tract  between 
the  Franklin  Avenue  bridge  and  the  Milwaukee  Railway  bridge,  which 
was  owned  by  Judge  Bradley  B.  Meeker,  for  whom  also  a  county  is 
named. 

In  the  preceding  list  of  townships,  sufficient  mention  has  been  made 
for  Crystal  lake  and  Lake  Independence,  Long  lake  in  Orono,  Lake  Min- 
netonka,  Whale  Tail  and  Ox  Yoke  lakes,  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and 
Wayzata  bay. 

The  earliest  detailed  map  of  any  part  of  this  state  was  drafted  during 
the  building  of  the  fort,  in  1823,  entitled  "A  Topographical  View  of  the 
Site  of  Fort  St.  Anthony,"  as  described  in  the  historical  paper  before 
cited.  Lakes  Harriet  and  Calhoun  and  the  Lake  of  the  Isles,  in  the 
series  at  the  west  side  of  Minneapolis,  are  there  mapped  and  named,  with 
numerous  others  of  the  lakes,  rivers  and  creeks,  in  the  contiguous  parts 
of  Hennepin,  Ramsey,  and  Dakota  counties.  The  region  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  was  designated  as  Michigan,  and  that  on  the  west  as  Mis- 
Lake  Harriet  was  named  for  the  wife  of  Colonel  Leavenworth.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Harriet  Lovejoy,  her  home  being  in  Blenheim,  Scho- 
harie county,  N.  V.  She  was  born  in  I79I ;  was  married  to  Leavenworth 
in  the  winter  of  1813-14;  and  died  at  Barrytown,  N.  Y.,  September  7, 
18S4.  She  came  here  with  her  husband  and  the  first  troops,  August  24, 
1819,  and  was  here  about  one  year.  Leavenworth  received  the  brevet 
rank  of  brigadier  genera!  in  1824,  and  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  July 
21,  1834,  in  an  expedition  against  the  Pawnees  and  Comanches.  Fort 
Leavenworth,  in  Kansas,  and  a  city  and  county  there,  were  named  in  his 
honor. 

Lake  Calhoun  commemorates  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  (b.  1782,  d. 
1850),  the  eminent  statesman  of  South  Carolina,  who  was  Secretary  of 
War  from  1817  to  1825,  He  was  vice  president  of  the  United  States, 
1825-32;  was  U.  S.  senator,  1833-43;  and  was  Secretary  of  State  under 
President  Tyler,  1844-5,  when  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Senate,  of 
which  he  remained  a  member  until  his  death.  The  Dakota  or  Sioux  name 
of  this  lake  is  given  as  "Mde  Medoza,  Lake  of  the  Loons,"  by  Major  T. 
M.  Newson  in  his  "Indian  Legends  o£  Minnesota  Lakes"  (No.  1,  1881, 
page  18). 

The  Lake  of  the  Isles  was  named  for  its  islands  {now  two,  but  form-- 
erly  four,  as  mapped  in  Andreas'  Atlas,  1874)  ;  and  Cedar  lake,  for  the 
red  cedar  trees  of  its  shores. 


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0  E   OTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

M  F         ec   ved  the  name  of  Brown's  Falls  on  the  Fort  map 

82  b  Brown,  major  general  and  commander  in  chief 

m  ntil  his  death,  February  24,  1828;  but  Minnehaha 

th  e  Minnetonka,  which  was  made,  as  before  men- 

R   B    wn  and  William  J.  Snelling  in  May,  1822,  when 

ea  enteeii  years  old,  could  scarcely  have  caused  the 

m  y  prominent  citizen  of  Minnesota  to  be  so  applied 

army  officer. 

is  cited  by  Longfellow's  "Song  of  Hiawatha," 

d  by  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Eastman  in  the  introduction 

D  or  Life  and  Legends  of  the  Sioux  around  Fort 

849.     She  there  wrote :     "The  scenery  about  Fort 

S  g  ty.     The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  are  familiar  to 

of  Indian  sketches.     Between  the  fort  and  these 

'  40  feet  in  height,  on  a  stream  that  empties  into 

M  pp  Indians    call    them    Mine-hah-hah,    or    'laughing 

waters.' " 

The  common  Sioux  word  for  waterfall  is  "haha,"  which  they  applied 
to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  to  Minnehaha,  and  in  general  to  any  water- 
fall or  cascade.  To  join  the  words  "minne,"  water,  and  "haha,"  a  fall, 
seems  to  be  a  suggestion  of  white  men,  which  thereafter  came  into  use 
among  the  Indians. 

The  late  Samuel  W.  Pond,  Jr.,  in  his  admirable  book,  "Two  Volunteer 
Missionaries,"  narrating  the  lives  and  work  of  his  father  and  uncle, 
Samuel  W.  and  Gideon  H.  Pond,  wrote ;  "The  Indian  name,  'Little 
Waterfall/  is  given  ...  in  speaking  of  the  falls  now  called  by  white 
people  'Minnehaha.'  The  Indians  never  knew  it  by  the  latter  name,  be- 
stowed upon  it  by  the  whites." 

Somewhat  nearly  this  name,  however,  was  used  in  1835  by  Charles 
J.  Latrobe,  in  his  book,  "The  Rambler  in  North  America,"  telling  of  his 
travels  in  1832-3,  in  which  he  wrote  as  follows,  applying  it,  with  parts  of 
the  name  transposed,  to  the  larger  falls  o£  the  Mississippi :  "But  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony!  .  .  .  the  Hahamina!  'the  Laughing  Water,' 
as  the  Indian  language,  rich  in  the  poetry  of  nature,  styles  this  remote 
cataract." 

Another  early  book  of  travel  using  the  same  form  of  the  name,  under 
a  different  spelling,  is  "A  Summer  in  the  Wilderness ;  embracing  a  Canoe 
Voyage  up  the  Mississippi  and  around  Lake  Superior,"  by  Charles  Lan- 
man,  1847  (208  pages).  He  described  the  present  Minnehaha  creek  as 
"a  small  river,  without  a  name,  the  parent  of  a  most  beautiful  waterfall." 
Of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  he  wrote:  "Their  original  name,  in  the  Sioux 
language,  was  Owah-Menah,  meaning  falling  water."  The  same  spelling 
and  translation  had  been  given  in  Schoolcraft's  Narrative,  1820. 

Soon  this  Sioux  or  Dakota  name  took  its  present  form,  an  improve- 
ment devised  by  white  people,  probably  first  published  in  Mrs.  Eastman's 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  231 

book,  in  1849,  previously  quoted.  It  was  more  elaborately  presented  by 
Rev.  John  A.  Merrrick,  in  a  paper  describing  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
contributed  to  the  Minnesota  Year  Book  for  1852,  published  by  William 
G.  LeDuc.  Merrick  wrote :  "By  the  Dahcota  or  Sioux  Indians  they  are 
called  Minne-ha-hah  or  Minne-ra-ra  (Laughing  water),  and  aiso  Minne- 
owah  (Faning  water),  general  expressions,  applied  to  all  waterfalls;  but 
Par  eminence  Minne-ha-hah  Tonk-ah  (the  great  laughing  water).  By  the 
Ojibways  they  are  termed  Kakah-Bikah  (the  broken  rocks)." 

The  noble  American  epic  of  Longfellow,  in  which  he  pictured  Hiawa- 
tha, "skilled  in  ail  the  crafts  of  hunters,"  and 
"the    ^rrow-maker's    daughter, 
Mmnehaha  Laughing  Water, 
Handsomest  of  all  the  women," 
so  well  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  both  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  indeed  of  all  where  English  is  spoken    that  soon  after  its  publi- 
cation, in  1855   this  name  became  known  around  the  world,  the  most  wide- 
ly honored  and  lo\ed  name  m  Minnesota  history  ind  legends. 

The  names  of   other   streams  and  lakes   in   this  county   are  noted  in 

their  order  from  south  to  north  and  from  east  to  west,  this  being  the 

Tiumerical  order  of  the  townships  and  ranges  in  the  government  surveys. 

Rice  lake,  through  which  Minnehaha  creek  flows,  was  named   for  its 

wild  rice,  formerly  gathered  for  food  by  the  Indians.- 

Lake  Nokomis  was  called  Lake  Amelia  by  the  Fort  map  in  1823, 
probably  for  the  wife  or  daughter  of  Captain  George  Gooding,  who  came 
with  the  first  troops  in  1819.  The  name  was  changed  to  Nokorais  by 
the  Park  Commissioners  of  Minneapolis  in  1910,  for  the  grandmother  of 
Hiawatha. 

Next  to  the  south  and  southwest  are  Mother  lake  (lately  drained). 
Diamond,  Pearl,  Mud,  and  Wood  lakes. 

Nine  Mile  creek  received  its  name  from  its  distance  southwest  from 
Fort  Snelling. 

Long  lake  (now  mostly  drained).  Grass  lake  (on  a  recent  map  named 
Terrell  lake),  and  Rice  lake  (having  wild  rice),  are  on  the  bottomland  of 
the  Minnesota  river  in  Bloomington  and  Eden  Prairie. 

On  the  upland  in  these  townships  are  another  Long  lake  (also  named 
Bryant's  lake),  Anderson,  Bush,  Hyland,  Neil!,  Staring,  Red  Rock,  and 
Moran  lakes.  Lake  Riley,  Mitchell,  Round,  and  Duck  lakes,  mostly  named 
for  farmers  adjoining  them. 

Minnetonka  township  has  Shady  Oak  lake,  in  section  26,  and  Glen 
lake  in  section  34. 

In  Excelsior  are  Galpin's  lake,  Christmas  lake,  and  Silver  lake,  the 
first  named  for  Rev.  Charles  Galpin,  the  first  pastor  there,  and  the  second 
for  Charles  W.  Christmas,  of  Minneapolis,  the  first  county  surveyor. 

Minnetrista,  named  for  its  two  remarkably  crooked  lakes,  has  also 
Dutch  lake,  adjoining  a  German  settlement;  Lake  Langdon,  which  com- 


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232  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

memorates  R.  V.  Langdon,  the  first  township  clerk;  and  Long  lake,  in 
sections  9,  IS.  and  16. 

Minneapolis,  in  addition  to  its  western  series  of  lakes  before  noted, 
has  Sandy  lake,  northeast  of  the  Mississippi;  Powderhorn  lake,  named 
for  its  original  shape,  now  changed  as  the  center  of  a  park;  and  Loring 
Park  lake,  named  in  honor  of  Charles  M.  Loring,  who  was  prominent 
during  more  than  thirty  years  in  the  development  of  the  Minneapolis 
system  of  parks  and  public  grounds.  Glenwood  park,  on  the  west  border 
of  this  city,  includes  Glenwood  and  Brownie  lakes. 

Bassett  creek,  flowing  through  the  village  area  of  Golden  Valley  and 
the  city  of  Minneapolis,  was  named  for  Joel  Bean  Bassett,  an  early  settler 
and  lumberman,  who  was  born  in  Wolfborough,  N.  H.,  March  17,  1817, 
and  died  in  Los  Angeles,  Ca!.,  Feb.  1,  1912.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in 
1849,  settling  in  St.  Paul,  but  soon  pre-empted  a  tract  adjoining  the  Mis- 
sissippi in  Minneapolis,  near  the  mouth  of  this  creek;  removed  there  in 
1852,  and  afterward  engaged  in  lumbering  and  flour  milling;  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Territorial  Council,  1857;  was  Indian  agent  for  Minnesota 
1865-69. 

The  village  area  of  Golden  Valley  has  Virginia  lake,  Sweeney  lake, 
and  Twin  lake. 

Again  Twin  lakes  are  found  three  to  four  miles  farther  north,  in  the 
area  of  Crystal  village,  which  was  named,  as  before  noted,  for  its  Crystal 
lake. 

Shingle  creek,  which  crosses  Brooklyn  township  and  the  Brooklyn 
Center  village,  joining  the  Mississippi  in  the  north  edge  of  Minneapolis, 
had  near  its  mouth  the  first  shingle  mill  in  this  county,  built  in  1852. 
It  flows  through  Palmer  lake,  named  for  a  pioneer. 

Plymouth  has  Bass  lake,  Pomerleau,  Smith,  and  Turtle  lakes,  in  its 
northern  half.  The  much  larger  Medicine  lake,  in  its  southeastern  part, 
was  named  by  the  Indians  after  one  of  their  number  was  drowned  there 
by  the  capsizing  of  his  canoe  in  a  sudden  storm.  This  name,  in  their  use, 
means  mysterious,  and  was  given  to  the  lake  because  they  could  not  find 
his  body.  Parker's  lake,  and  Gleason  and  Kraets  lakes,  in  the  southwest 
part  of  Plymouth,  were  named  for  adjoining  settlers,  the  first  being  for 
six  Parker  brothers  who  came  from  Maine,  in  1855  and  later,  opening 
farms  around  this  lake. 

Medina  township  has  Medina  lake  in  section  2;  Lake  Peter  in  sections 
4  and  5;  School  lake  in  the  school  section  16;  Seig  and  Half  Moon  lakes, 
and  18;  Hausmann  lake,  in  section  24;  Wolsfeld  lake,  in 
s  22  and  27 ;  and  Lake  Katrina,  in  sections  19,  20,  29,  and  30. 

Orono  has  Lydiard  lake,  close  east  of  Long  lake;  Classen  take,  a 
mile  and  a  half  west  of  Long  Lake  village;  and  French  and  Forest  lakes, 
adjoining  the  bays  and  arms  of  Lake  Minnetonka. 

Independence  has  Mud  lake,  Haughey,  and  Fox  lakes;  and  Pioneer 
creek,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Independence,  flows  southwestward  across  this 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  233 

Elm  creek  flows  through  Rice  lake,  at  the  center  of  Maple  Grove  town- 
ship, and  Hayden's  lake,'  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Dayton.  Midway 
between  these  lakes,  Rush  creek  is  tributary  to  it  from  the  wesL 

Maple  Grove  also  has  Mud  lake,  in  section  2;  Weaver  lake,  in  sections 
17  to  20;  and  Fish  lake.  Cedar  Island,  and  Eagle  lakes,  the  last  being  the 
largest  in  the  township. 

Corcoran  has  only  very  small  lakes,  the  largest  (which  alone  is  named 
on  maps)  being  Jubert's  lake,  in  sections  29  and  32. 

Lake  Sarah,  the  largest  in  Greenwood,  outflowing  to  the  Crow  river 
by  Edgar  creek,  was  named  in  1855  for  the  wife  or  sweetheart  of  a  pio- 
neer ;  and  in  the  same  year  Lake  Rebecca  received  its  name  in  honor  of 
Mrs.  Samuel  Allen.  Sections  23  and  24  of  this  township  had  a  series  of 
small  lakes,  recently  drained,  which  were  named  Hafften,  Schendel, 
Schauer,  and  Schnappauf  lake-.,  for  German  farmers. 

Besides  Hayden's  lake,  before  mentioned,  Dayton  has  French  lake, 
named  for  a  settlement  of  Frenuli  families  there,  who  came  in  1853 ;  Grass, 
Diamond,  and  Lura  lakes,  next  northward ,  Goose  lake,  at  the  southeast 
corner  of  this  township ;  and  Powers  lake   in  section  34. 

Hassan  has  Lake  Harry  Syhan  lake  and  Cowley  lake.  The  last  is 
also  known  as  Parslow's  lake,  in  honor  of  Septimus  Parslow,  who  in  1856 
was  appointed  the  first  postmaster  of  Hassan,  and  held  the  office  twenty- 
five  years  or  more. 

Ba\'^  Points  and  IisLands  or  Lake  Minnetcnka, 
The  origin  of  the  name  of  this  lake  and  aho  the  story  of  its  early 
white  explorers  have  been  told  for  M  nnetonka  townshp  iihortly  after 
Its  exploration  and  i  aming  m  1852  it  was  iisited  on  August  11  of  that 
summer  by  a  prominent  author  Mri  Elizabeth  Frie=  lllet,  of  New  York 
City  who  ga>e  to  M  nneaota  and  M  nnetonka  i  early  twenty  pages  in 
her  Summer  Rambles  n  the  West  Bes  des  her  notes  of  the  journey  to 
thi    lake   she  named  Eden  Prairie   which  gaie  its  t  tie  to  a  township. 

Her  name  for  the  iirst  water  sheet  at  the  east  end  of  Minnetonka, 
now  named  Cray  s  lake  or  baj  was  Lake  Browning  for  the  poet,  Eliza- 
beth Barrett  Brown  ng  The  next  part  wider  and  larger  which  was  soon 
afterward  named  Wajzata  baj  as  before  noted  Mrs  Ellet  called  Lake 
Brvant  tor  our  Ameraan  poet  fron  whom  she  read  aloud  a  few  lines 
appripnate  to  the  scene 
Between  her  Lake  Br\ant  and  the  third  large  sheet  of  water,  "an  ex- 
tremely narrow  headland  half  a  mile  in  length  runnmg  out  from 
the  southern  shore  sinCe  named  Breezv  po  nt  «  as  by  her  named  Point 
W  akon  the  Dakota  term  for  anjlhmg  spir  tual  or  supernatural."  There 
an  o\3l  stone  a  waterworn  boulder  ab  ut  a  foot  in  diameter,  had  been 
found,  which  the  Dakotas  had  painted  red  and  covered  with  small  yel- 
low spots,  some  of  them  faded  to  a  brown  color,"  around  which  stone  the 
Dakota  or  Sioux,  braves  were  accustomed,  after  raids  against  the  Ojib- 
ways,  to  celebrate  their  scalp  dance. 


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234  MINNESOTA-  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Cedar  point  projects  into  Wajfzata  bay  from  the  south,  named  for  its 
red  cedar  trees. 

Proceeding  westward  along  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  we  pass  Robin- 
son's bay,  with  Sunset  point  southwest  of  it;  Carson's  bay  at  Deephaven; 
and  St  Alban's  bay  and  Gideon's  bay,  respectively  east  and  west  of  Ex- 
Hotel  Keewaydin,  a  name  from  Longfellow's  "Song  of  Hiawatha," 
meaning  "the  Northwest  wind,  the  Home  wind,"  was  at  Cottagewood, 
close  west  of  Carson's  bay.  Keewaydin  is  the  same  name  as  the  differ- 
ently spelled  Keewatin,  a  former  large  province  of  northwestern  Canada, 
lying  west  of  Hudson  bay. 

Gluek's  point  and  Solberg's  point  are  passed  southwestward,  before 
coming  to  Excelsior. 

A  summer  village  that  failed  to  grow,  called  St.  Albans,  was  platted  in 
1856  on  the  north  shore  of  the  bay  which  thence  took  its  name. 

Gideon's  bay  (also  called  Tonka  bay)  commemorates  Peter  M.  Gideon, 
the  horticulturist,  who  there  originated  the  renowned  Wealthy  apple, 
named  by  him  in  honor  of  his  wife.  He  was  born  in  Champaign  cotinty, 
Ohio,  February  9,  1^0;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1853,  settling  beside  this 
bay,  where  later  he  was  superintendent  of  the  State  Fruit  Farm.  A  small 
memorial  park  and  a  tablet  in  his  honor,  at  Manitou  Junction,  about  a 
mile  west  of  Excelsior,  were  dedicated  June  16,  1912. 

Hull's  Narrows,  joining  the  lower  and  upper  parts  of  Minnetonka, 
received  this  name  for  Rev.  Stephen  Hull,  who  settled  on  a  farm  there  in 
February,  18S3.  Originally  a  short  creek,  it  was  widened  and  deepened 
as  a  canal,  and  was  opened  to  steamboat  navigation  in  1873. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  upper  lake  are  Lock's  point,  Howard's  point, 
and  a  less  noteworthy  projection  of  the  shore  at  Zumbra  Heights,  west  of 
Smithtown  bay. 

Hard  Scrabble  point  on  the  west,  and  Cedar  point  on  the  east,  divide 
this  tipper  lake  from  Cook's  and  Priest's  bays,  at  the  west  end  of  Micne- 

Yet  farther  west,  connected  by  a  strait  with  Priest's  bay,  is  HaJsted's 
bay,  named  for  Frank  William  Halsted,  who  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J., 
in  1833,  and  died  here  in  June,  18?6.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1855; 
served  in  the  U.  S.  navy  during  the  civil  war;  resided  in  a  picturesque 
house  near  the  shore  of  this  bay,  called  the  Hermitage.  His  older 
brother,  George  Blight  Halsted,  was  born  in  Elizabeth  town,  N.  J.,  March 
17,  1820;  and  died  here  September  6,  190L  He  was  graduated  at  Princeton 
college ;  studied  law ;  served  in  the  navy,  and  later  in  the  army,  through 
the  civil  war;  came  to  this  State  in  1876,  and  afterward  resided  in  the 
home  where  his  brother  had  lived. 

Phelps  island  (originally  a  peninsula)  lies  east  of  Cook's  bay,  and 
is  indented  on  its  southeast  side  by  Phelps  bay.  These  names  were  given 
in  honor  of  Edmund  Joseph  Phelps,  of  Minneapolis,  who  was  born  near 
Brecksville,  Ohio,  January  17,  1845.     He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1878,  set- 


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HENNEPIN  COUNTY  235 

tlii^  in  Minneapolis;  organized,  with  others,  the  MinneapoHs  .Loan  and 
Trust  Company  in  1883,  of  which  he  was  secretary  and  treasurer. 

Pelican  point  and  Casco  point  are  respectively  west  and  east  of  Spring 
Park  bay,  on  the  north  side  of  the  upper  lake.  ' 

Carman's  bay,  named  for  a  farmer,  John  Carman,  who  settled  here  in 
September,  1853,  and  Lafayette  bay,  named  from  the  Hotel  Lafayette, 
are  respectively  west  and  east  of  the  Narrows,  on  the  north  side. 

Huntington  point  and  Starvation  or  Orono  point  jut  into  the  tower 
lake  from  the  north,  respectively  west  and  east  of  Smith's  bay. 

Branching  off  from  Smith's  bay  westward  is  Crystal  bay,  and  con- 
nected with  the  latter  are  Maxwell  and  Stubbs  bays,  the  North  Arm,  and 
the  West  Arm  and  Harrison's  bay. 

East  of  Orono  point  is  Brown's  bay.  and  next  east  are  Lookout  point 
and  an  upland  with  fine  residences,  named  Ferndale,  which,  with  the 
opposite  Breezi  point  before  noted,  are  at  the  entrance  of  Wayzata  bay. 
So  we  have  tra\er=ed  the  entire  shore  line,  with  its  multitude  of  in- 
denting bavs  and  projecting  points,  of  this  exceedingly  attractive  lake, 
of  which  I  wrote  m  !917  that  it  may  well  be  called  the  Kohinoor  of  Min- 
nesota s  ten  thou'^and  lake=  For  the  archaeologist  and  historian,  this 
lake  has  great  interest  in  ita  many  groups  of  aboriginal  mounds,  before 
noticed  m  connccticn  with  the  \illage  named  Mound.  For  the  naturalist, 
m  addition  to  its  beautiful  scenery,  it  has  treasures  of  the  native  flora 
and  fauna  notably  its  abundant  species  of  trees  and  shrubs  and  its  many 
kmds  of  fishes  and  birds.  Two  points,  one  near  the  east  end  of  the  iake 
and  another  near  the  west  end,  are  named  for  their  red  cedars ;  and 
islands  in  the  upper  part  of  the  lake  received  names  from  their  formerly 
plentiful  cranes  and  more  rare  nests  of  the  bald  eagle. 

The  islands  of  Minnetonka  include  Big  island  in  the  lower  lake,  which 
at  first  was  known  as  Meeker's  island,  for  Judge  Bradley  B.  Meeker,  of 
Minneapolis,  who  visited  this  lake  with  Governor  Ramsey  and  others  in 
1852;  Gale  island,  near  the  southwest  shore  of  Big  island,  named  for 
Harlow  A.  Gale  (b.  1832,  d,  1901).  of  Minneapolis,  whose  summer  home 
was  there ;  and,  in  the  upper  lake,  Wild  Goose  island.  Spray  island. 
Shady,  Enchanted,  Wawatasso,  Eagle,  and  Crane  islands.  The  longest 
of  these  names   may  be  akin  with   one   in   Longfellow's   "Song  of   Hia- 

"Wah-wah-taysee,  little  firefly." 
"Picturesque  Lake  Minnetonka,"  published  in  yearly  editions  by  S.  E. 
Ellis  (1906,  102  pages),  referred  the  name  of  Enchanted  island  to  its 
being  long  ago  a  favorite  place  of  Dakota  or  Sioux  medicine  dances, 
with  wierd  incantations;  and  related  that  Wawatasso  was  a  young  Dako- 
ta brave  who  rescued  the  daughter  of  a  white  pioneer  trapper  from  drown- 
ing. Other  Dakota  legends  about  Minnetonka  have  been  written  in  prose 
by  Thomas  M.  Newson,  in  1881,  and  in  poetry  by  Hanford  L  Gordon  ("In- 
dian Legends  and  Other  Poems,"  1910,  406  pages).  Like  Hiawatha  and 
Minnehaha,  and  like  the  geographic  names  in  this  county  that  are  partly 


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236  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

of  Dakota  derivation,  these  writings  present  more  white  than  red  ways 
of  thought  and  imagery. 

The  Fort  Snelling  Military  Reservation  in  1839, 

A  map  of  "Fort  Snelling  and  Vicinity,"  surveyed  and  drafted  by  Lieut. 
E.  K.  Smith  in  October,  1837,  comprises  the  near  vicinity  of  the  fort. 
Camp  Cold  Water,  and  the  post  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  on  the 
site  of  Mendota,  having  probably  been  made  mainly  to  show  the  eaJiins 
and  fields  of  settlers  permitted  to  locate  on  the  Military  Reservation. 

Two  years  later  a  more  extended  survey  and  map,  for  the  U.  S.  War 
Department,  by  Lieut.  James  L.  Thompson,  showed  the  boundaries  estab- 
lished or  adopted  for  the  Military  Reservation,  "done  at  Fort  Sndling, 
October  and  November,  1839,  by  order  of  Major  Plympton." 

This  ma[i,  on  the  scale  of  two  inches  to  a  mile,  is  limited  to  the 
Reservation  area,  reaching  west  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  (now  called 
Wood  lake),  the  series  of  Harriet,  Calhoun,  and  the  Lake  of  the  Isles, 
and  northwest  to  the  lower  part  of  Nine  Mile  creek  (now  Bassett's 
creek).  On  the  east  the  Reservation  was  bounded  by  the  middle  of  the 
channel  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  island  next  below  the  present  Meeker 
island.  From  the  upper  end  of  that  island,  the  boundary  on  the  north  side 
of  the  part  of  the  Reservation  east  and  north  of  the  Mississippi  extended 
due  east  five  miles,  to  a  point  near  the  present  intersection  of  St.  Peter 
and  Tenth  streets  in  the  city  of  St.  Paul.  Next  it  extended  due  south 
two  miles  and  ten  chains,  crossing  the  Mississippi  very  close  west  of  the 
upper  end  of  Harriet  island,  to  a  point  near  the  present  corner  of  Annapo- 
lis street  and  Manomin  avenue  in  West  St.  Paul.  Thence  the  south- 
eastern boundary  of  the  Reservation  ran  eight  miles  and  42  chains  south- 
westward,  nearly  in  parallelism  with  the  Mississippi  and  Minnesota  rivers 
and  about  a.  mile  distant  from  them.  Finally  the  most  southern  line  of 
this  area  ran  due  west  one  mile  and  75  chains,  to  the  Minnesota  river  at 
the  place  of  beginning,  about  six  miles  distant  from  the  fort. 

Reserve  township  of  Ramsey  county,  now  included  in  the  city  of  St. 
■  Paul,  had  its  north  boundary  very  near  the  north  line  of  the  Reservation, 
whence  the  township  was  named, 

The  history  of  the  opening  for  settlement  of  the  greater  parts  of  the 
Reservation,  in-  3852-55,  including  the  southwestern  areas  of  St  Paul  and 
Ramsey  county,  and  the  area  of  Minneapolis  west  of  the  river,  has 
been  related  by  Dr.  Folwell  in  a  paper,  "The  Sale  of  Fort  Snelling,  1857," 
in  the  M,  H.  S.  Collections  (vol.  XV,  1915,  pp.  393-410). 

On  the  Reservation  map  of  1839,  "Land's  End"  is  a  part  of  the  bluff 
on  the  northwest  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  nearly  two  miles  south- 
west from  the  fort,  where  the  bluff  is  intersected  by  a  tributary  ravine; 
Minnehaha  falls  and  creek  were  called  Brown's  falls  and  Brown's  creek; 
an  "Indian  Village"  adjoined  the.  southeast  shore  of  Lake  Calhoun;  and 
the  "Mission,"  with  three  cultivated  fields,  comprising  probably  30  acres, 
was  on  the  northwest  side  pf  Lake  Harriet. 


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HOUSTON  COUNTY 

Established  February  23,  1854,  this  county  was  named  in  honor  of 
Samuel  Houston,  who  was  president  of  Texas  before  its  annexation 
to  the  United  State=  c^i  af     w     d  f  oni  that  state.    He 

was  bom  near  Lexington,  V  gi  M  h  2  179  and  died  in  Hunts- 
ville,  Texas.  July  26,  1863.    I     h  h  h    i     d        eral  years  with  the 

Cherokee  Indians,  near  his  h  m     n  T  n       ee;  later  he  served 

in  the  Creelt  war,  1813-14,  w  g    h      d  n     f  Gen.  Andrew  Jack- 

son by  his  bravery  in  a  battl       f       b    ng  w  unded ;  studied  law, 

and  was  admitted  to  practic      1818-J9    v,  ra  mb      of  Congress  from 

Tennessee,  1823-7;  and  was  g  f    h  1  27-9. 

On  account  of  an  uncong     a!  m        g     h  g    d  the  governorship, 

retired  to  savage  life  in  the  Arkansas  Territory,  whither  the  Cherokees 
had  been  removed,  and  again  lived  with  them,  becoming  an  Indian  trader. 
In  December,  1832,  he  went  to  Texas  under  a  commission  from  President 
Jackson,  looking  toward  its  purchase  for  the  United  States.  In  183S 
he  was  elected  commander-in-chief  of  the  Texans,  and  in  the  battle  of 
San  Jacinto,  April  21,  1836,  he  defeated  the  Mexicans  and  captured  their 
general,  Santa  Anna,  ending  the  war. 

Huston  was  president  of  the  Texas  republic  1816  8  and  1841-4 
T  w  d  t     th     U    t  d  St  t  1845    h     b     dm  tt  d 

ft        dHtwltd  ft  t  llpthhld 

by        1    t         f      tl    t       y  1 1  1859     L  t     h  g  f 

T  1859-61   b  pp        t    f 

r     th    y         1854  6   wl  en      t  g       m  b  tw        th     N  rth      d  S     th 


0  t  b       1854  th    g         ID  t         ram  tt        i  TS.        H  rap  1 

ea       tly         m       d  d  h  m  t     b      th    p    pi       ca  d  d  t      f      th    cam 
p   gn        1850     H     p  p  1     ty        W  t      t  th  t  t  m  tt    t  d  by 

th        m      f  tl  tj        d  h        1  k  w  mm  m      t  d  bj  t 

Tnn  dT  dbymft  dllg  T  M 

sissippi,  Missouri,  and  other  states. 

Several  biographies  of  Sam  Houston,  as  he  always  styled  himself, 
have  been  published  from  1846  to  1900. 

Marble  statues  of  him  and  Stephen  F.  Austin,  sculptured  by  Elisabet 
Ney,  of  Texas,  and  erected  as  the  gift  of  that  state  in  Statuary  Hall  of 
the  national  capitol,  were  accepted  February  25,  1905,  with  memorial 
addresses  by  members  of  Congress  representing  Texas,  Tennessee,  Mis- 
souri, and  Arkansas. 

237 


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238  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information   for  the  origins  of  geographic  names  in  this  county  has 
been  gathered  from  the  "History  of  Houston  County,"  18S2,  526  pages ;  , 
aud  from  Charles  A.  Dorival,  judge  of  probate,  interviewed  during  a 
visit  at  Caledonia,  the  county  seat,  in  April,  1916. 

Black  Hammer  township,  first  settled  in  1852,  organized  in  April, 
1859,  received  this  name,  meaning  Black  Bluff,  from  an  exclamation  of 
Knud  Olson  Bergo,  an  early  Norwegian  settler  in  the  adjoining  township 
of  Spring  Grove,  on  seeing  a  prairie  bluff  here  blackened  by  a  fire.  It 
was  the  name  of  a  bluff  at  his  birthplace  in  Norway.  Hammer,  as  a 
Norwegian  word,  has  the  same  spelling  and  meaning  as  in  English. 
Doubtless  the  name  was  au^ested,  both  in  Norway  and  here,  by  the 
shape  of  the  bluff  or  hill. 

Bw  tdN  848gdt  1858, 

m  ^h  dgd  d8  4,  by 

B  b  oth        wh  h  in    848  from 

N  w  B    g    ph  b  m    h    M  H.  S. 

m    X    ' 
\LDOiA  8  dl  858kthnmeof 

g     wh  1       d    nd  d         854-    b     S  m       Iv    Phail, 

wh    h  mi  d  First 

M  m  ng  h     S  8  Th      w      the 

Rm  m  S  dth         hfih  Cy  d  Forth, 

m  the  poetic  name  of  Scotland.    Caledonia  village 

gislative  act,  Feb.  25,  :870. 
RE  nship,  settled  in  1852-3,  organized  May  U,  1858, 

eek  which  flows  through  it  in  an  exceptionally 
g  a  western  channel  of  the  Mississippi  at  Reno, 
f  the  railway  from  Reno  nearly  to  Caledonia. 
E        N  Uage  Tn  section  32,  Winnebago,  was  named  for  a  place  in 

G  h    ce  some  of  the  early  settlers  came. 

Freeb  railway  village  in   section  30,   Crooked   Creek  township, 

ra  d  by  German   settlers,   for   the  city  of   Freiburg  in  the   Black 
Forest  region  of  Germany, 

HoKAH  township,  settled  in  1851,  organized  May  11,  1858,  bears  the 
Dakota  or  Sioux  name  of  the  Root  river,  which  is  its  English  translation. 
Hutkan  is  the  spelling  of  the  word  by  Riggs  and  Williamson  in  their  Da- 
kota dictionaries,  1852  and  19(S;  but  it  is  spelled  Hokah  on  the  map  by 
Nicollet,  published  in  1843.  and  on  the  map  of  Minnesota  Territory  in 
1850.  A  part  of  the  site  of  the  village,  which  was  platted  in  March,  1855, 
had  been  earlier  occupied  by  the  village  of  a  Dakota  chief  named  Hokah. 
This  railway  village  was  incorporated  March  2,  1871. 

Houston  township,  settled  in  1852  and  organized  in  1858,  was  named, 
like  the  county,  for  General  Sam  Houston,  of  Texas,  The  village  was 
incorporated  April  7,  1874. 


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HOUSTON  COUNTY  239 

Jefferson  township,  organized  in  1858,  received  its  name,  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  Eber  D,  Eaton,  of  Winnebago  township,  for  Jefferson  county, 
New  York,  whence  he  came  to  Minnesota.  Jefferson  village,  on  the  west 
channel  of  the  Mississippi,  was  at  first  called  Ross's  Landing  for  John 
and  Samuel  Ross,  brothers,  who  came  here  as  the  first  settlers  in  1847. 

La  Crescent  township,  seUled  in   1851,  organized  May  11,  1858,  was 

named    like  its  village    platted  in  June    1856    in  allusion  to  the  town  of 

LC  Vi  hlldbp  ly  founded  on  the  oppo- 

t        d       f  th     M  pp       Th  t  F        h       m      meaning  the  bat  used 

pi  y    g  ball  and  th  pp!    d  t     th    b  !1  g         often  played  by  the 

Id  !dl         g  tic  p  bf        the  settlement  of  the 

t  b  tl     g        d  w         f         t    p!        f      their  meeting  to  play 

th      g  m        Th  g  dm  g     f  tl      W         nsin  name,  however, 

d      gddfknwbythf       d  fL     Crescent,  who  con- 

f      d    t  wth  L     C  th     C  R      II    g  th     ancient  contests  of 

thCl         gttfS  dTk         their  efforts  to  recap- 

ture the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent  were  raised 
aloft  in  deadly  strife,  and  being  mindful  of  the  fate  that  overtook  those  who 
struggled  under  the  banner  of  La  Crosse,  they  resolved  to  challenge  their 
rival  by  raising  the  standard  of  La  Crescent,  and  thus  fight  it  out  on  that 
line."    (History  of  Houston  County,  1882,  page  426.) 

Mayvillb,  settled  in  1S55  and  organized  in  1858,  was  named  for  May- 
ville,  N.  Y.,  the  county  seat  of  Chautauqua  county,  whence  Dr.  John  E, 
Pope  and  others  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  township  came. 

Money  Cheek  township,  settled  in  18S3-4,  organized  May  11,  1858, 
and  its  village,  which  was  platted  in  the  autumn  of  1856,  received  their 
names  from  the  creek  here  tributary  to  the  Root  river.  "Some  man 
having  got  his  pocket-hook  and  contents  wet  in  the  creek,  and  spreading 
out  the  bank  notes  on  a  bush  to  dry,  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  blew  them 
into  the  water  again,  and  some  of  it  never  was  recovered,  so  this 
circumstance  suggested  the  name  of  the  stream,  after  which  the  town 
was  named."     (History,  3882,  page  436.) 

Mound  Prairie  township,  settled  in  1853-4,  was  organized  in  April, 
1860.  "The  name  of  the  town  was  suggested  by  Dr.  Chase,  an  old  resident, 
in  remembrance  of  a  remarkable  rounded  bluff  in  section  four,  surround- 
ed by  a  wide  valley  on  all  sides." 

Reno,  a  railway  village  and  junction  in  Crooked  Creek  township,  at 
first  called  Caledonia  Junction,  was  renamed  by  Capt.  William  H.  Harries, 
of  Caledonia,  in  honor  of  Jesse  Lee  Reno.  He  was  born  at  Wheeling, 
West  Virginia,  June  30,  1823;  was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1846; 
served  in  the  Mexican  war;  was  a  brigadier  general,  and  later  a  major 
general,  of  United  States  volunteers  in  the  civil  war;  was  killed  in  the 
battle  of  South  Mountain,  Md.,  September  14,  1862. 

R:CEFORD,  a  village  in  section  6,  Spring  Grove  township,  platted  in 
1856,  was  named  in  honor  of  Henry  M.  Rice,  of   St.   Paul,  who  also  is 


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240  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

commemorated  bv  the  name  of  Rii-e  countj  He  visited  this  place  in 
ISSg  following  an  Indian  trail  and  fording  the  creek  here  whicli  thente 
IS  called  Riceford  creek 

Sheldon  settled  i\  June  1853  organized  Ma;  11  1858  took  the  name 
of  its  village  founded  in  18S4-7  of  which  Tulius  C  Sheldon  who  came 
from  SuSield    Conn     waa  one  of  the  proprietors 

Spring  Ghove  townsh  p  settled  m  1852  and  organized  m  iS'^S  rece  ^ed 
the  name  of  its  first  post  office  which  was  established  in  1854  at  the 
home  of  James  Smith  the  earliest  settler  bes  de  a  spring  and  a  grove 

Union  township  settled  in  1853  was  organized  April  5  1859  Thirty 
other  states  haie  fown'h  ps  and  villages  of  th  s  name 

Wilmington  first  settled  m  June  1851  oraamzed  May  U  1858  has 
a  name  that  is  likewise  borne  in  fourteen  other  states  b\  townships 
villages   and  cit  es 

WiKNEBACO  settled  m  March  1851  organized  May  II  1858  is  drau  ed 
by  Winnebago  creek  which  with  the  township  recened  its  nime  from 
the  Wmnebago  Indians  man\  of  whom  after  the  i.essun  of  tl  eir  Wis 
consia  lands  m  1832  were  removed  to  northeastern  Iowa  Iheir  hunting 
ground=  then  ej-teaded  into  this  adjoinmg  edge  of  Minnesota,  until  they 
were  again  remoied  in  1848  to  Long  Prair  e   in  central  Mnnesota 

The  head  chief  of  the  V,  innebagoes  Winneshiek  for  whom  an 
adjacent  county  ii  Iowa  is  named  Ii\ed  and  hunted  much  in  this  county 
His  principal  home  was  about  se  en  miles  west  of  the  village  of  Houston 
on  the  Root  rner  Houston  county  Minnesota  here  he  lived  durmg  the 
wmter  in  a  d  rt  wigwam  (History  of  Winneshiek  County  Iowa  by 
Edwin  C   Bailey   1913   lol   1   p  34) 

Yucatan  settled  probably  m  1852  and  organ  zed  in  1858  was  at  first 
called  Utn,a  but  to  avoid  confusion  with  other  places  of  that  name 
which  are  found  in  sixteen  states  one  be  ng  Utica  township  i  W  inona 
county  it  was  changed  to  the  present  name  of  somewhat  similar  sound 
which  is  used  nmhere  else  in  the  Un  ted  States  It  was  taken  from  the 
large  pen  nsuli  of  \ucatan  forming  the  most  southeastern  pirt  of  Mexi 
CO   and  from  the  \  u(.atan  thaimel   between  tl  at  coui  frj  and  Cuba 

Lakes,  Rivers,  Creeks,  and  Bluffs. 
Houston  county  lies  in  a  large  Driftless  Area,  exempted  from  glacia- 
tion  and  therefore  having  none  of  the  glacial  and  modified  drift  for- 
mations by  which  it  is  wholly  surrounded.  This  area  also  includes 
parts  of  several  other  counties  of  southeastern  Minnesota,  but  its  great- 
est extent  is  in  Wisconsin,  with  small  tracts  of  northeast  Iowa  and  north- 
west Illinois.  Its  length  is  about  150  miles  from  north  to  south,  with  a 
maximum  width  of  about  100  miles.  It  is  characterized  by  absence  of 
lakes,  excepting  on  the  bottomlands  of  rivers,  where  they  fill  portions  of 
deserted  watercourses.  Such  lakes  occur  in  this  county  along  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Root  rivers,  one  of  which,  two  to  three  tniles  southeast  of 
La  Crescent,  is  named  Target  lake,  from  former  rifle  practice  there. 


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HOUSTON  COUNTY  241 

The  preceding  pages  have  noted  the  origins  of  the  names  of  Crooked 
creek,  Root  river,  Money  creek,  and  Riceford  and  Winnebago  creeks. 

Pine  creek,  flowing  through  La  Crescent  to  the  Mississippi,  has  here 
and  there  a  few  white  pines  on  its  bluffs,  this  region  being  at  the  south- 
western limit  of  this  tree. 

Tributaries  of  the  Root  river  from  the  north  are  Storer,  Silver,  and 
Money  creeks;  and  from  the  south,  in  similar  westward  order,  Thomp- 
son creek  (formerly  also  known  as  Indian  Spring  creek),  Crystal  creek, 
and  Badger,  Beaver,  and  Riceford  creeks.  Thompson  creek  was  named 
in  honor  of  Edward  Thompson  and  his  brother,  Clark  W.  Thompson, 
the  principal  founders  of  Hokah,  for  whom  biographic  notices  are  given 
in  the  M.  H.  S.  Collections,  volume  XIV. 

A  prominent  bluff  of  the  Root  river  valley  at  Hokah  is  named  Mt.  Tom. 

Wild  Cat  creek  flows  into  the  Mississippi  at  Brownsville,  and  Wild 
Cat  bluff  is  a  part  of  the  adjacent  high  bluffs  forming  the  west  side  of  the 
Mississippi  valley.  These  names,  and  those  of  Badger  and  Beaver  creeks, 
tell  of  early  times,  when  the  fauna  of  this  region  included  many  fur- 
bearing  animals  that  have  since  disappeared  or  become  very  scarce. 


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HUBBARD  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  February  26,  1883,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Lucius  Frederick  Hubbard,  governor  of  Minnesota  from  1882  to  1887. 
He  was  born  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  January  26,  1836;  came  to  Minnesota  in  18S7, 
established  the  Red  Wing  Republican,  and  was  its  editor  till  1861 ;  enlisted 
in  December,  1861,  as  a  private  in  the  Fifth  Minnesota  regiment;  within 
a  year  was  promoted  to  be  its  colonel ;  and  in  December,  1864,  was 
breveted  brigadier  general.  In  the  Spanish- American  war,  1898,  he  again 
served  as  brigadier  general.  In  1866  he  engaged  in  the  grain  business  at 
Red  Wing,  and  after  1870  also  in  flour  milling.  From  1877  to  1890  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  construction  and  management  of  new  railway 
lines,  built  to  promote  the  business  development  of  Red  Wing  and  Good- 
hue county.  He  was  a  state  senator,  1872-5;  and  was  governor,  1882-7, 
his  second  term  consisting  of  three  years  on  account  of  the  change  to 
biennial  sessions  of  the  legislature.  He  removed  to  St.  Paul  in  1901, 
and  afterward  lived  there,  except  that  his  home  during  the  last  two 
years  was  with  his  son  in  Minneapolis,  where  he  died  February  5,  1913. 

In  th«  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  volume  XIII  ("Lives 
of  the  Governors  of  Minnesota,"  by  Gen.  James  H.  Baker,  published  in 
1908),  pages  251-281  give  the  biography  and  portrait  of  Governor  Hub- 
bard, with  extracts  from  his  messages. 

By  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  April  16,  1889,  Hubbard  was  appointed 
a  member  of  a  board  of  commissioners  for  preparing  and  publishing  a 
history  entitled  "Minnesota  in  the  Civil  and  Indian  Wars,  1861-186S." 
In  this  work  of  two  volumes  he  contributed  the  "Narrative  of  the  Fifth 
Regiment,"  forming  pages  243-281,  and  followed  by  the  roster  of  this  regi- 
ment in  pages  282-299,  of  volume  I,  published  in  1890. 

Five  other  papers  by  Hubbard,  relating  to  campaigns,  expeditions,  and 
battles  of  the  Civil  War,  are  in  the  M,  H.  S.  Collections,  volume  XII, 
1908,  pages  531-638;  and  the  same  volume  has  also  an  article  by  him,  in 
pages  149-166,  entitled  "Early  Days  in  Goodhue  County." 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  these  names,  and  for  lakes  and  streams  in  this  county, 
was  gathered  from  Joseph  F.  Delaney,  who  was  the  county  auditor  from 
1907  to  1915,  M.  M.  Nygaard,  register  of  deeds,  and  Dr.  Pearl  D.  Win- 
ship,  a  resident  since  1887  at  Park  Rapids,  the  county  seat,  interviewed 
during  visits  there  in  October,  1909,  and  September,  1916. 

Akeley  township  and  its  railway  village  were  named  in  honor  of 
Healy  Cady  Akeley,  who  built  large  sawmills  here  and  during  many  years 
engaged  very  extensively  in  logging  and  manufacture  of  lumber.  He 
was  born  in  Stowe,  Vt„  March  16,  1836;  and  died  in  Minneapolis,  July 


242 


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HUBBARD  COUNTY  243 

30,  1913.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in  1858;  served  in  the 
Second  Michigan  cavalry  in  the  civil  war ;  settled  in  Minneapolis  in 
1887,  as  a  lumber  merchant;  was  president  of  the  Flour  City  National 
Bank,  and  of  the  Akeley  Lumber  Company.  In  1916  these  sawmills 
were  closed,  having  exhausted  the  available  supplies  of  pine  timber. 

Arago  township  received  its  name  from  Lake  Arago  on  Nicollet's  map, 
of  1843,  at  the  place  of  the  present  Potato  lake,  in  the  southeast  part  of 
this  township.  The  name  commemorates  Dominique  Francois  Arago, 
an  eminent  French  physicist  and  astronomer,  who  was  born  at  Estagel, 
France,  February  26,  1786,  and  died  in  Paris,  October  2,  1853, 

Badoura  township  was  named  for  Mrs.  Mary  Badoura  Mow,  wife 
of  David   M  Thej     ve  e  p      eer  settlers  on    1  e  HuHiard  pra  rie 

where  she  d  ed  a  few  jears  ago  after  Wh  ct  he  remo  ed  to  southern 
Minnesota     Th     was  the  nan  e  of  a  pr  ncess    n     \rab  an  N  ghts 

Benedict  a  ra  !way  stat  on  n  sect  on  35  Lakeport  and  Be  ed  ct  lake 
about  two  m  les  d  slant  to  the  south  were  named  for  a  homestead  farmer 

Clay  townsh  p  was  named  for  ts  generdllj  lajej  o  1  of  glac  al  dr  ft 
in  contrast  w  th  oti  er  t  a  ts  ha  mg  more  sandy  a  d  g  a  elly   so  I 

Clover  townsh  p  der  ed  ts  name  from  ts  abundance  of  wh  te  clo  er 
growing  along  tl  e  old  logg  ng  r  ad     of  the  1  mbe  me 

Crow  Wing  Lake  township  was  named  tor  its  group  of  nine  lake 
on  and  near  the  Crow  Wing  river,  in  its  course  through  this  township. 

Dorset,  a  railway  village  in  sections  10  and  II,  Henrietta,  was  named 
by  officers  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  company.  This  is  the  name  of 
a  county  in  southern  England,  a  town  in  Vermont,  and  a  village  in  Ohio. 

Farden  township  was  named  for  Ole  J,  Farden,  a  Norwegian  home- 
steader there,  who  removed  to  West  Hope  in  Saskatchewan. 

Farbis  is  a  railway  village  of  the  Great  Northern  and  Soo  lines  in  sec- 
tions 14  and  15,  FMden. 

Fern  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Richard  Fern,  who  owned  a 
homestead  in  Lake  Emma  township,  but  in  1916  removed  to  Park  Rapids. 

Guthrie  township,  named  after  its  railway  village,  commemorates 
Archibald  Guthrie,  a  contractor  for  the  building  of  this  Minnesota  and 
International  railway. 

Hart  Lake  township  was  named  for  its  heart-shaped  lake  in  section 
17,  but  the  names  of  the  lake  and  township  are  misspelled. 

Helga  bears  the  name  of  a  daughter  of  John  Snustad,  probably  the 
first  white  child  born  in  that  township. 

Hendbickson  township  commemorates  John  C.  Hendricks  on,  the 
former  owner  of  a  sawmill  there,  who  removed  to  Sauk  Center. 

Henbistta  township  was  named  for  the  wife  of  William  H.  Martin, 
whose  homestead  adjoined  the  southwest  end  of  Elbow  Lake.  He  served 
during  the  civil  war  in  an  Ohio  regiment,  attaining  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
colonel ;  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners  when  this 
township  was  organized;  and  later  returned  to  his  former  home  in  Day- 
ton, Ohio,  where  he  died  several  years  ago. 


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244  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

HoRTON,  a  station  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  in  section  34, 
Straight  River  township,  was  named  for  Edward  H.  Horton,  a  cruiser 
selecting  lands  for  lumbering,  who  lived  many  years  in  Park  Rapids, 
but  removed  to  Montana  in  1908, 

HoBBAHi>  township,  notable  for  its  large  prairie,  was  named,  like  the 
comity,  for  General  Hubbard. 

Lake  Alice  township  received  its  name  from  a  lake  which  was  called 
Lake  Elvira  by  Captain  Wiilard  Glazier,  in  memory  of  his  eldest  sister,  on 
the  maps  of  his  expeditions  to  Lake  Itasca  in  1881  and  1891.  The  lake  was 
renamed  by  the  pioneer  settlers  to  commemorate  Alice  Glazier,  who 
accompanied  her  father  in  the  large  party  of  his  second  expedition,  and 
to  whom  his  book,  "Headwaters  of  the  Mississippi"  (1893,  527  pages), 
was  dedicaled." 

Lake  Emma  township  was  named  for  a  beautiful  though  small  lake 
in  the  north  half  of  section  23,  which  is  much  surpassed  in  size  by  several 
others  in  this  township. 

Lake  George  township  has  a  large  lake  at  its  center,  which  was  thus 
named  by  Glazier  in  1881  for  his  brother,  a  member  of  his  first  expedi- 
tion to  Lake  Itasca,  in  July  of  that  year. 

Lake  Hattie  township  bears  the  name  of  its  largest  lake,  derived  from 
Glazier's  map  in  1881. 

Lakeport  township  was  named,  with  a  change  of  spelling,  for  its  rail- 
way village,  Laporte  (meaning,  in  French,  the  door  or  gate),  which  is 
the  name  o£  a  city  and  county  in.  Indiana,  and  of  villages  in  seven  other 

Latona  was  the  name  of  the  post  office,  now  discontinued,  at  Horton 
railway  station. 

Mantrap  township  was  named  for  the  large  Mantrap  lake  at  its  north- 
west corner,  which,  by  its  many  bays  and  peninsulas,  entrapped  and  baffled 
travelers  through  this  wooded  country  in  their  endeavors  to  pass  by  it  or 
around  it.  Crooked  and  Spider  lakes,  in  this  township,  were  also  named 
for  their  similarly  winding  and  branched  outlines. 

Nary,  a  railway  station  in  Helga  township,  was  named  for  Thomas  J. 
Nary,  of  Park  Rapids,  who  during  many  years  was  a  cruiser  selecting 
timber  lands  for  purchase  by  lumber  manufacturers  in  Minneapolis. 

Nevis  township  and  its  railway  village  were  probably  named  for  Ben 
Nevis  in  western  Scotland,  the  highest  mountain  of  Great  Britain. 

Park  Rapids,  the  county  seat,  was  named  by  Frank  C.  Rice,  proprietor 
of  the  townsite,  who  came  from  Riceville,  Iowa,  a  railway  village  which 
he  had  previously  platted.  The  name  was  suggested  by  the  parklike 
groves  and  prairies  here,  beside  the  former  rapids  of  the  Fish  Hook  river, 
now  dammed  and  supplying  valuable  water  power. 

RocKwooD  township  was  at  first  named  Rockwell,  in  honor  of  Charles 
H.  Rockwell,  a  homesteader  there.    A  lake  also  bears  his  nam. 
16  and  17,  Henrietta,  where  likewise  he  had  a  farm. 


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HUBBARD  COUNTY  245 

RosBv,  a  station  of  the  Great  Northern  and  Soo  railways  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  Helga  township,  was  named  for  Ole  Eosby,  an  adjoining 
Norwegian  farmer. 

Schoolcraft  township  was  named  for  its  river,  along  which  Henry 
Rowe  Schoolcraft  and  his  party  canoed  in  1832,  ascending  and  portaging 
to  Elk  lake,  which  he  then  renamed  Lake  Itasca.  He  was  born  in  Albany 
county,  N.  Y.,  March  28,  1793 ;  and  died  in  Washington,  D.  C,  December 
10,  1864.  He  was  educated  at  Middlebury  college,  Vt.,  and  Union  college, 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  giving  principal  attention  to  chemistry  and  mineral- 
ogy. In  1817-18  he  traveled  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas ;  in  1820  was  in  the 
expedition  of  General  Lewis  Cass  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river,  which 
turned  *— -t;  at  Cass  lake,  regarded  then  as  the  principal  source  of  the 
river;  in  1822  was  appointed  the  Indian  agent  for  the  tribes  in  the  region 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  with  headquarters  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  after- 
ward at  Mackinaw;  and  in  1832  he  led  a  government  expedition  to  the 
head  of  the  Mississippi  in  Lake  Itasca.  He  published,  in  1821,  1834,  and 
1855,  narrative  reports  and  maps  of  the  two  expeditions  up  the  Mississippi, 
which  supplied  many  geographic  name*  During  the  greater  part  of  his 
S  h  d  ffi   al  ected  with   Indian 

ff  d  8  ted  States  govern- 

m  -d       m  m  orate  work  in  six 

q  6  d  d      H  al    and    Statistical 

p         g     h      H  d  d    Prospects    of    the 

d    n  T   b  d  S 

SiEA    H      Rive  m  d  ver    flowing    from 

S       g  B    k  d  g      h     north  part  of  this 

w  hghO  mwm  these   are  trans- 

lations, the  river  took  the  name  of  the  lake  whence  it  flows. 

Thorpe  was  named  for  Joseph  Thorpe,  an  early  schoolteacher  of  Hub- 
bard county,  who  took  a  homestead  claim  in  this  township. 

Todd  was  named,  as  proposed  by  Frank  C.  Rice,  of  Park  Rapids,  which 
is  situated  in  this  township,  for  Smith  Todd,  a  homesteader  here.  He 
served  during  the  civil  war  in  the  Eighth  Maine  regiment;  removed 
about  1910  to  Spokane,  Wash.,  and  died  there  in  1915. 

White  Oak  township  was  named  for  this  species  of  oak,  having 
"strong,  durable,  and  beautiful  timber,"  which  is  frequent  or  common  in 
southeastern  and  central  Minnesota.  Its  geographic  range  continues 
northwest  through  this  county  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river  and  the 
White  Earth  reservation. 

■     Lakes  and  Streams, 

The  foregoing  pages  have  noted  the  names  of  Benedict  lake  and  rail- 
way station,  and  of  Hart  lake.  Lakes  Alice,  Emma,  George,  and  Hattie, 
Mantrap  lake,  and  Straight  river,  for  each  of  which  a  township  is  named. 

The  remarkable  series  or  chain  of  lakes  along  the  head  stream  of 
Crow  Wing  river,  in  the  southeast  part  of  this  county,  was  mapped  by 


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246  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Schoolcraft  in  1832.  On  his  return  from  the  expedition  to  Lake  Itasca, 
his  party  traveled  by  canoes  from  Leech  lake  southwest  to  the  head  of 
the  Crow  Wing  and  through  its  lakes,  this  being  a  route  well  known  to 
the  Ojibways  and  frequently  used  in  their  war  raids  against  the  Sioux. 
In  the  descending  order,  these  eleven  lakes  on  Schoolcraft's  map,  pub- 
lished in  1834  with  his  Narrative  of  this  expedition,  are  Kaginogumag, 
Little  Vermilion,  Birch  lake,  Lac  Pie,  Ossowa  lake,  Lac  Vieux  Desert, 
Summit  lake,  Long  Rice  lake,  Allen's  and  Johnston's  lakes,  and  Lake 
Kaichibo  Sagitowa.  Two  of  these  names  were  given  in  honor  of  Lieu- 
tenant James  Allen  and  George  Johnston,  members  of  the  expedition. 

On  the  map  of  Hubbard  county  by  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey 
(in  Volume  IV,  1899),  this  series  of  names  is  copied,  excepting  that  the 
first  is  Longwater  lake,  as  it  was  translated  by  Schoolcraft's  Narrative. 

Lac  PIS  (or  Pel6)  was  named  in  allusion  to  its  being  partly  bordered 
by  a  prairie.  Lake  Ossowa  of  the  map  is  named  Lake  Boutwell  in  the 
Narrative,  in  honor  of  Rev.  William  T.  Boutwell,  of  this  expedition. 
Lac  Vieux  Desert  is  there  translated  from  its  French  name,  as  "the  Lake 
of  the  Old  Wintering  Ground."  Summit  lake  was  named  "from  its 
position,"  where  the  river  turns  southeastward  from  its  previous  southwest 
course.  The  lowest  lake  of  the  series  is  translated  as  "the  lake  which  the 
river  passes  through  at  one  end." 

In  the  latest  atlas  of  Minnesota,  published  in  1916,  these  original  names 
are  replaced  by  a  numerical  list,  which  came  into  use  by  lumbermen  and 
the  pioneer  settlers.  The  lowest  is  called  First  or  Sibley  lake,  and  the 
Third  and  Fourth  lakes  are  also  named  respectively  Swift  and  Miller 
lakes,  these  names  being  for  early  governors  of  Minnesota.  The  other 
lakes  are  designated  only  hy  their  numbers,  up  to  the  Eleventh  lake, 
which,  as  noted  by  Schoolcraft,  is  called  Kaginogumag  by  the  Ojibways, 
meaning  Longwater  lake. 

The  stream  now  named  Schoolcraft  river  was  called  by  him  the 
"Plantagenian  or  South  fork  of  the  Mississippi."  Lake  Plantagenet, 
through  which  it  flows  in  the  north  edge  of  this  county,  retains  the  name 
that  he  gave  in  1832.  These  names,  for  a  line  of  kings  of  England,  who 
reigned  from  1154  to  1399,  were  derived  from  the  flowering  broom  (in 
■  Latin,  planta  genista),  chosen  as  a  family  emblem  by  Geoffrey,  count  of 
Anjou,  whose  son  was  Henry  II,  the  first  of  the  Plantagenet  kings.  An- 
other name  sometimes  given  to  this  river  is  Yellow  Head,  for  School- 
craft's guide,  whose  Ojibway  name,  Oza  Windib,  has  this  meaning.  It 
was  called  River  Laplace  by  Nicollet's  map  in  1843,  for  the  great  French 
astronomer,  who  was  born  in  1749  and  died  in  1827. 

Hennepin  lake  and  river.  La  Salle  river,  and  its  Lake  La  Salle,  tribu- 
tary to  the  Mississippi  from  the  northwest  part  of  this  county,  bear  names 
given  in  honor  of  these  early  French  explorers  by  Glazier  in  his  first 
expedition  to  Lake  Itasca,  in  1881. 

Other  names  received  from  Glazier's  map  of  his  route  in  that  year, 
passing  from  Leech  lake  west  to  Itasca,  are  Garfield  lake,  for  the  presi- 


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HUBBARD  COUNTY  247 

dent  James  Abram  Gartield  (b  1831  d  1881)  Lake  Sheridan  in  aec 
tions  24  and  25  Lake  George  township  for  Philip  Henry  Sheridan  {b 
18j1  d  1888)  the  renuwned  cavalry  commander  in  the  civil  war  and 
Lake  Pa  ne   £  r  Barrett  Chinning  Pame   who  accompanied  Glazier  in  that 

"^teaiiboat  nier  and  lake  «ere  mmed  for  their  being  asLcnded  by 
steamboats  from  Leeth  lake 

Fiah  Hook  ruer  and  lake  are  translations  from  their  Ojibwai  name 
given  ly  Re\    J    A    GilfiUan  as  Pugidabani 

Elbow  lake  named  bv  the  wh  te  settlers  for  it  sharph  bent  outhnes 
has  an  Ojibwaj  nime  which  mean"!  as  translated  bv  Gilhllan  the  lake 
into  which  the  river  pitches  and  ceases  to  flow  —dies  there  It  has  no 
visible  outlet  the  inflow  being  discharged  south  to  the  Lrow  ^^  ing 
river  by  springs  or  perhaps  westward  t^  tl  e  i  orth  part  ot  Long  iake  m 
Henrietta  and  Hubbard  townships 

Kabekona  the  Ojibwav  name  of  a  lake  and  rver  tr  butarv  to  Leech 
lake  IS  defined  bj  GiltilUn  a=  the  end  of  all  roidi  whith  mav  be  nearh 
equivalent  viith  Schoolcrafts  earlier  translation      tie  rest  m  the  path 

Many  other  lakes  rema  n  to  be  noted  as  follows  in  the  order  of  the 
townships  from  south  to  north  and  of  ranges  from  east  to  west 

Badoura  has  ^  olf  lake  in  sections  17  and  18  and  Tripp  lake  on  the 
south  line  of  sect  oi  20  the  last  being  named  for  Oiarles  Tripp  an  early 
settler  beside  it 

Crovi  ^^  ing  lake  ti^wnship  in  addition  to  the  four  lower  lakes  of  the 
Crow  W  ing  r  \  er  serie';  has  another  W  oh  lake  Bladder  a  id  Ham  lakes 
named  f  Dr  the  r  shape  Palmer  Hke  in  section  29  and  D  nk  lake  in 
section  jl 

Hubbard  haa  Stonv  hke  in  secUons  1  and  2  and  Little  Stony  lake  on 
the  east  side  of  section  1  named  for  ice  formed  ridges  of  boulders  and 
gra\el  on  their  shures  Long  lake  exteidng  north  from  the  village  sin 
miles  and  Upper  T«in  lake  partlv  m  section  31  hing  i  the  \\  adena 
count!   line 

Straight  R  ver  township  ha',  Lake  Moran  nearly  three  m  ies  long  and 
lerj  narrow  reaching  from  section  13  to  sect  on  27  named  for  an  earh 
settler  and  Bass  lake  and  Hinds  lake  in  sect  on  24  the  last  being  named 
for  Edward  R  Hinds  of  Hubbard  representative  of  this  county  in  the 
leg  slat  re  in  1903  '•  1909  aid  1915  19  who  about  thirty  years  ago  had 
a  logging  camp  at  this  lake 

White  Oak  towi  ship  has  W  illian  s  lake  in  section  to  Haj  lake  in 
section  10  and  Loon  lake  in  section  jO 

Ne\is  has  the  Fifth  to  the  Eighth  lakes  of  the  Crow  Wing  series 
Eibow  lake  before  noted  and  Deer  lake  Shallow  lake  ai  d  Clausen  s 
lake  in  sections  4  ^  and  6 

Henrietta  has  Bull  lake  named  by  the  Ojibways  for  a  bull  moose 
killed  there  and  Swietzer  RockweO  and  Pe\senski  lakes  named  for 
pioneer  farmers 


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248  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Portage  lake,  in  Todd  township,  was  named  for  a  portage  from  it 
westward  on  an  Ojibway  canoe  route. 

Shingob  lake,  in  sections  25  and  26,  Akeley,  and  the  creek  flowing 
thence  to  Leech  lake,  are  named,  like  the  adjoining  Shingobee  township 
in  Cass  county,  from  the  Ojibway  word,  jingob,  applied  as  a  general 
term  to  several  species  of  evergreen  trees,  including  the  balsam  tir, 
spruce,  and  arbor  vitae. 

Mantrap  township,  with  its  Mantrap,  Crooked,  and  Spider  lakes,  be- 
fore noticed,  has  Waboose  lake  in  section  2,  meaning  a  rabbit  in  the  Ojib- 
way language ;  and  Dead  lake  in  section  18,  which,  though  receiving  an 
inlet   from   Crooked  lake,   has  no  outlet. 

Lake  Emma  township,  besides  the  small  lake  of  this  name,  has 
Bottle  lake,  named  for  the  narrow  strait,  like  the  neck  of  a  bottle  or 
hourglass,  connecting  its  two  broad  areas;  Stocking  lake,  named  for  its 
shape;  Pickerel  lake,  having  many  fish  of  this  species;  Rice  lake,  having 
much  wild  rice;  Blue  lake,  named  for  its  depth  and  color;  Big  Sand 
lake,  and  Little  Sand  lake;  and  Gilmore  and  Thomas  lakes,  the  last  being 
named  for  the  owner  of  a  hotel  there,  frequented  for  hunting  and  fishing. 

Arago  has  Potato  lake,  named  for  the  wild  artichoke,  a  species  of 
sunflower  with  tuberous  roots,  much  used  as  food  by  the  Indians;  Eagle 
lake,  named  by  timber  cruisers  for  a  nest  in  a  large  tree  near  the  middle 
of  its  east  shore;  Island  lake;  and  Sloan  lake,  in  section  32,  named  for 
John  Sloan,  an  adjacent  farmer. 

Mud  lake  is  in  sections  19  and  30,  Thorpe. 

Qay  township  has  Schoolcraft  lake,  crossed  by  its  north  line,  near  the 
highest  sources  of  Schoolcraft  river ;  Fawn  lake,  on  the  west  side  of 
section  6;  Skunk  lake,  in  sections  29,  30,  and  32;  and  Bad  Axe  lake,  in 
sections  26  and  35. 

Qover  township  has  Little  Mantrap  lake  on  its  west  boundary,  named 
for  its  irregularly  branching  bays,  lying  about  ten  miles  west  of  the 
larger  Mantrap  lake. 

Lakeport,  with  Garfield  and  Kabekona  lakes,  before  noted,  has  also 
Mirage  lake. 

Lake  Alice  township,  including  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Itasca  State 
Park,  which  reaches  one  mile  into  this  county,  has  Lake  Alice  in  sections 
2  and  11,  Beauty  lake  in  section  28,  and  numerous  other  little  lakes  not 
yet  named. 

Dow's  lake,  Jn  section  32,  Schoolcraft,  was  named  for  William  Dow, 
who  built  a  sawmill  on  the  Schoolcraft  river  near  this  lake,  taking  a  home- 
stead there,  but  later  removed  to  Laporte. 

Farden  has  Midge,  Grace,  Wolf,  Mud,  and  Long  lakes,  all  lying  in  the 
northeast  part  of  this  township. 

Rockwood,  with  the  large  Plantagenet  and  Hennepin  lakes,  before 
noticed,  has  Spearhead  and  Little  Spearhead  lakes,  probably  named  for 
their  shape. 

Fern  township  has  Diamond  lake  and  Lake  La  Salle. 


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ISANTI  COUNTY 

Established  February  13,  1857,  this  county  bears  the  fvrmer  name, 
now  obsolete,  o£  a  large  division  of  the  Dakotas  or  Siiux,  anciently 
Izatys,  now  Santees,  who  lived  two  hundred  years  ago  in  the  region  of 
the  Rum  river  and  Mille  Lacs,  called  by  Hennepin  respectively  the  river 
and  lake  of  the  Isantis.  Under  different  forms  of  spelling,  this  name 
was  used  by  DuLuth,  Hennepin  and  La  Salle,  the  first  two  seeing  these 
Indians  in  1679  and  1680;  and  the  name,  spelled  Issati,  appears  on  Fran- 
quelin's  map  of  1688. 

Prof.  A,  W.  Williamson  wrote  of  this  word,  and  of  its  probable 
derivation  from  the  Sioux  name  of  Knife  lake  in  Kanabec  county: 
"Isanti  (isanati  or  isanyati),  — isan,  knife;  ati,  dwell  on  or  at;  the  Dakota 
name  of  the  part  of  the  nation  occupying  Minnesota,  and  comprising  the 
Sissetons  as  well  as  those  now  known  as  Santees ;  it  is  supposed  the 
name  was  given  as  this  lake  was  their  chief  location  for  a  time  on  their 
westward  journey." 

Neill's  History  of  Minnesota  (page  51)  mentions  the  Isanti  division 
of  the  Dakota  people  as  follows :  "From  an  early  period,  there  have  been 
three  great  divisions  of  this  people,  which  have  been  subdivided  into 
smaller  bands.  The  first  are  called  the  Isanyati,  the  Issati  of  Hennepin, 
after  one  of  the  many  lakes  at  the  head  waters  of  the  river  marked,  on 
modern  maps,  by  the  unpoetic  name  of  Rum.  It  is  asserted  by  Dahkotah 
missionaries  now  living,  that  this  name  was  given  to  the  lake  because 
the  stone  from  which  they  manufactured  the  knife  (isan)  was  here  ob- 
tained. The  principal  band  of  the  Isanti  was  the  M'dewakantonwan. 
In  the  journal  of  Le  Sueur,  they  are  spoken  of  as  residing  on  a  lake  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  Tradition  says  that  it  was  a  day's  walk  from  Isan- 
tamde  or  Knife  lake."  The  two  lakes  so  referred  to  are  doubtless  Mille 
Lacs  {the  lake  of  the  Isantis)  and  Knife  lake,  on  the  Knife  river,  fifteen 
miles  distant  southeastward. 

Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  has  shown  that  the  Knife  lake  and  the  Isanti  or 
Knife  Sioux  probably  derived  their  name  from  the  first  acquirement  o£ 
iron  or  steel  knives  there  by  these  Indians,  in  the  winter  of  1659-60, 
through  their  dealings  with  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  and  with  the 
Hurons  and  Ottawas  of  their  company.  (Memoirs  of  Explorations  in 
the  Basin  of  the  Mississippi,  Volume  VI,  entitled  "Minnesota,"  1903, 
pages  119-123.), 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  received  from  Hans  Engberg,  presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Cambridge,  who  was  the  county  audi- 
tor during  the  years  1878-88,   from   Sidney  S.  Bunker,  an  early  pioneer. 


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250  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

and  G.  G.  Goodwin,  county  attorney,  each  a  resident  of  Cambridge,  the 
ty    eat       t  d  d       g  t  th  A  e    t   1916 

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ra  d       h  £  D        1  St       hfi  Id   wh  tl      fi    t         S  ptem 

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river,  and  in  mercantde  busmess  at  St.  Anthony;  was  a  representative  in 
the  territorial  legislature  in  1853;  removed  to  Iowa  in  1861;  and  returned 


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ISANTI  COUNTY  251 

J  Minneapolis  in  1E89   which  was  afterward  his  home      He  contributed 
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In  Spencer  Brook  township  are  Tennyson,  Baxter.  Blue,  and  Mud  lakes. 

Cambridge  has  Skogman's  lake,  named  for  an  early  Swedish  settler 
beside  it.  This  township  has  two  Long  lakes,  one  in  sections  4  and  9,  anil 
another  in  sections  12  and  13. 

Green  lake  in  Wjanett  is  mainly  shallow,  named  for  its  green  scum 
in  summer ;  and  the  smaller  but  deeper  Spectacle  lake  is  named  for  its 
shape,  like  a  pair  of  eyeglasses. 

Troolin  and  Linderman  lakes,  in  Stanchfield.  were  named  respectivtly 
for  a  blacksmith  and  a  farmer  near  them ;  Mud  lake,  for  its  muddy 
shores ;  and  the  Upper  and  Lower  Rice  lakes,  for  their  wild  rice. 

Lory  lake,  in  section  5,  Maple  Ridge,  was  named  for  H.  A.  Lory,  the 
former  owner  of  the  east  half  of  that  section. 


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TTASCA  COUNTY 

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ITASCA  COUNTY  253 

parts  of  the  two  Latin  words,  Veritas,  Caput.  Twenty  years  later, 
Brower's  publication  of  his  interview  with  Boutwell,  as  here  cited,  settled 
this  very  interesting  question  beyond  any  further  doubt. 

The  chapter  of  Clearwater  county  contains  a  review  of  the  explora- 
tions of  the  sources  of  the  MJssissipp',  which  were  completed  by  detailed 
surveys  of  the  Itasca  State  Park,  lying  mainly  in  that  county. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  the  names  in  this  county  was  received  from  Edward 
J.  Luther,  deputy  county  auditor,  and  John  A.  Brown,  county  surveyor, 
during  a  visit  at  Grand  Rapids,  the  county  seat,  in  September,  1909;  and 
from  Hugh  McEwen,  deputy  auditor,  during  a  second  visit  there  in 
August,  1916. 

Alvwoob  township  is  mainly  occupied  by  Swedish  settlers,  and  the 
first  part  of  its  name  is  probably  derived  from  Sweden. 

Abbo  township  was  named  for  an  early  lumberman,  John  Arbo,  who 
settled  there. 

Akdenhuest,  at  first  called  Island  Lake  township,  was  renamed  by  its 
settlers  from  England.  The  first  part  of  this  name  refers  to  the  ancient 
Ardennes  forest,  which  covered  a  large  area  in  northern  France,  Bel- 
gium, and  western  Germany;  and  hurst  is  an  Anglo-Saxon  word,  mean- 
ing a  grove  or  a  wooded  hill. 

Ball  Club  is  the  name  of  a  railway  village  at  the  south  end  of  Ball 
Club  lake,  which  is  translated  from  its  Ojibway  name,  suggested  by  the 
form  of  the  lake.  The  Indians  were  fond  of  playing  ball,  and  their  club 
or  bat  used  in  this  game  was  called  La  Crosse  by  the  French,  being  the 
source  of  the  name  given  to  a  city  and  county  in  Wisconsin. 

Balsam  township  was  named  for  the  Balsam  lake  and  creek,  and 
for  its  abundance  of  the  balsam  fir,  which  also  is  common  tbroughimt 
northeastern  Minnesota.  The  bark  of  this  tree  supplies  a  transparent 
liquid  resin  or  turpentine,  called  Canada  balsam,  used  in  mounting  objects 
for  the  microscope  and  in  making  varnish. 

Bass  Brook  tnwnship  and  Bass  Lake  township  were  named  for  their 
brook  and  lake,  having  many  fish  of  our  well  known  bass  species.  The 
Ojibway  name  of  the  lake  is  noted  by  Gilfillan  as  Ushigunikan,  "the  place 
of  bass,"  and  the  outflowing  brook,  according  to  the  Ojibway  usage,  bears 

Beahville  township  is  named  for  its  principal  stream,  Bear  river,  flow- 
ing from  Bear  lake. 

Big  Fork  township  and  its  railway  village  are  named  from  their  loca- 
tion on  the  Big  fork  of  Rainy  river. 

Blackbekry  township  and  its  railway  station  are  similarly  named  for 
the  Blackberry  lake  and  brook. 

Bowstring  township  adjoins  the  east  side  of  Bowstring  lake,  which  is 
a  translation  of  its  Ojibway  name,  noted  as   Atchabani   or  Busatchabani 


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254  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

by  Gilfillan.  This  name  Is  also  applied  by  the  Ojibways  to  the  Big  fork, 
because  the  Bowstring  lake  is  its  source. 

BusTicOGAN,  a  township  name,  is  probably  of  OJibway  derivation. 

Calumet,  a  mining  railway  village  of  the  Mesabi  iron  range,  bears 
the  French  name  (from  the  Latin  calamus,  a  reed)  of  the  ceremonial 
pipe  used  by  the  Indians  in  making  treaties  or  other  solemn  engagements. 
Assent  was  expressed  by  smoking  the  calumet,  which,  from  treaties  pre- 
venting or  terminating  wars,  was  often  called  the  peace  pipe. 

Carpenter  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Seth  Carpenter,  an  aged 
homesteader,  who  in  1906  headed  the  petition  for  its  organization. 

CoHASSET,  the  railway  village  of  Bass  Brook  township,  received  its 
name  from  the  town  of  Cohasset  on  the  east  coast  of  Massachusetts.  It 
is  an  Indian  word,  meaning,  as  noted  by  Gannett,  "fishing  promontory," 
"place  of  pines,"  or  "young  pine  trees." 

CoLERAiNE,  a  mining  railway  village  at  the  west  end  of  the  Mesabi 
range,  bears  the  name  of  a  township  in  western  Massachusetts.  It  was 
chosen  in  honor  of  Thomas  F.  Cole,  who  was  prominent  in  the  early 
development  of  these  iron  mines,  but  later  removed  to  Arizona,  becoming 
president  of  a  copper  raining  company  there. 

Deer  Lake  township  and  Deer  River  township  and  railway  village 
are  named  for  this  lake  and  river,  which  are  translated  from  the  Ojib- 
way  name,  Wawashkeshiwi,  as  noted  by  GilfiUan. 

Dewey  township  was  named  in  honor  of  George  Dewey,  victor  in  the- 
battle  of  Manila  Bay,  May  1,  1898.  He  was  born  in  Montpelier,  Vt., 
December  26,  1837;  was  graduated  at  the  United  States  Naval  Academy, 
I8S8;  served  in  the  civil  war;  was  promoted  as  lieutenant  commander 
in  1865,  captain  in  1884.  commodore  in  1895,  and  admiral  in  1899. 

Etfie,  a  station  of  the  Minneapolis  and  Rainy  River  railway,  was 
named  for  Effie  Wenaus,  daughter  of  the  postmaster  there. 

Fairview  township  has  the  euphonious  name  chosen  by  its  settlers  in 
their  petition  for  organization. 

Feelev  township  was  named  for  Thomas  J.  Feeley,  of  Aitkin,  who  had 
logging  camps  there  during  several  years.    He  has  Jived  in  this  to^ynship 


Franklin  township,  like  the  counties  of  this  name  in  twenty-four 
states  of  the  Union,  and  townships,  villages,  or  cities,  in  thirty  states, 
commemorates  Benjamin  Franklin,  philosopher,  statesman,  and  diplo- 
matist, who  was  born  in  Boston,  January  17,  1706,  and  died  in  Phila- 
delphia, April  17,  1790. 

Good  Hope,  named  by  the  settlers  of  this  township,  is  also  the  name 
of  villages  in  eight  other  states. 

GooDLANB  township  has  another  auspicious  name,  found  likewise  in 
Indiana,   Michigan,   and   Kansas. 

Gran  township  was  named  for  an  early  settler. 

Grand  Rapids  township  received  its  name  from  the  location  of  its  vil- 
lage, the  county  seat,  beside  rapids  of  the  Mississippi,  having  a  fall  of 


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ITASCA  COUNTY  255 

five   feet  in  a  third  of  a   mile.     The  river   is  ascended  to  this  place  by 
steamers  from  Aitkin. 

GrAttan  township  was  named  for  the  Irish  orator  and  statesman, 
Henry  Grattan   (b.  1746,  d.  1820). 

Greenway  township  was  named  for  Jolin  C.  Greenwaj,  who  formerly 

had  charge  of  iron  mining  at  Coleraine  for  the  Oliver  Mining  Company, 

but  removed  to  be  a  superintendent  of  copper  mining  in  Bisbee,  Arizona. 

Harris  township  was  named  for  Duncan  Harris,  who  took  a  homestead 

claim  there,  on  which  he  has  a  fruit  farm. 

Ingeh  township  was  named  for  one  of  its  pioneer  settlers. 
Iron  Range   township   contains   the   iron   mining   railway  villages   of 
Colerane,   Bovey,   and  Holman,  which  have  the  most  western   mines  of 
the  Mesabi  range, 

Keewatin,  an  iron  mining  town  in  the  east  edge  of  this  county,  has 
an  Ojibway  name,  spelled  giwedin  by  Baraga's  Dictionary,  meaning  north, 
also  the  north  wind.  It  was  the  name  of  a  former  large  district  of  Can- 
ada, at  the  west  side  of  Hudson  bay.  This  word  is  spelled  Keewaydin, 
as  it  should  be  pronounced,  in  Longfellow's  "Song  of  Hiawatha,"  with 
translation  as   "the   Northwest  wind,   the   Home  wind." 

KtKGHUBST  township,  formerly  called  Popple  (a  mispronunciation  of 
the  popJar  tree,  very  abundant  here),  was  renamed  in  honor  of  Cyrus  M. 
King,  of  Deer  River,  who  during  many  years  was  a  member  of  the  board 
of  county  commissioners.  (See  also  Ardenhurst,  before  noted  in  this 
list.) 

Lake  Jessie  township  has  a  lake  of  this  name,  and  another  called 
Little  Jessie  lake,  probably  in  commemoration  of  the  wife  or  daughter 
of  one  of  the  early  lumbermen. 

La  Prairie,  a  railway  village  and  junction,  is  near  the  raouth  of 
Prairie  river,  which  flows  through  Prairie  lake. 

Lowe  Lake  township  is  similarly  named  for  one  of  its  lakes,  this 
name  and  also  Round  lake  being  of  very  frequent  occurrence  among  the 
almost  countless  lakes  of  Minnesota. 

McCoRMtcK  and  McLeod  townships,  and  McVeigh  railway  station, 
were  named  for  pioneers. 

Marcell  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Andrew  Marcell,  the  first 
conductor  of  trains  on  the  Minneapolis  and  Rainy  River  railway,  which 
was  originally  built  for  transportation  of  logs  to  sawmills. 

Moose  Park  township  received  this  name  by  the  suggestion  of  C.  H. 
Harper,  a  pioneer  farmer  there,  who  was  one  of  the  petitioners  for  its 
organization. 

Nashwauk  township  has  an  Algonquin  name,  from  Nashwaak  river 
and  village,  near  Fredericton,  New  Brunswick.     It  is  probably  allied  in 
meaning  with  Nashua,  "land  between,"  the  name  of  a  river  and  a  city 
,   in  New  Hampshire. 

NoKE  township  was  named  for  Kittil  S.  and  Syver  K.  Nohre,  immigrant 
settlers  from  Norway. 


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256  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Orth  is  a  railway  village  of  Nore,  in  the  north  edge  of  this  county. 

Oteneagen  was  named  by  William  Hulbert,  a  farmer  and  lumberman 
of  this  township,  who  came  from  Michigan.  In  a  different  spelling, 
Ontonagon,  it  is  the  name  of  a  river  in  northern  Michigan,  tributary  to 
Lake  Superior,  and  of  its  village  and  county.  Gannett  has  defined  jhe 
Michigan  nanie  as  an  Ojibway  word,  meaning  "fishing  place,"  or,  in 
another  account  of  its  origin,  adopted  because  an  Indian  maiden  lost  a 
dish  in  the  stream  and  exclaimed  "nindonogan,"  which  in  her  dialect 
meant  "away  goes  my  dish." 

PoKEGAMA  township  derived  this  Ojibway  name  from  the  Pokegama 
lake,  translated  by  Gilfillan  as  "the  water  which  juts  off  from  another 
water,"  and  "the  lake  with  hays  branching  out."  This  large  lake,  having 
a  very  irregularly  branched  shape,  nearly  adjoins  the  Mississippi  river. 

The  Pokegama  fails  o£  the  Mississippi,  named  from  this  lake,  about 
three  miles  above  Grand  Rapids,  had  a  descent  of  fifteen  feet  in  a  sixth 
of  a  mile ;  but  the  dam  built  there  in  the  Upper  Mississippi  reservoir  sys- 
tem increases  the  fall  to  twenty-one  feet,  raising  also  the  level  of  the 
lake.  Schoolcraft,  in  his  Narrative  of  the  expedition  with  Governor  Cass 
in  1820,  wrote;  "The  Mississippi  at  this  fall  is  compressed  to  eighty  feet 
in  width  and  precipitated  over  a  rugged  bed  of  sand  stone,  highly  inclined 
towards  the  northeast.  There  is  no  perpendicular  pitch,  but  the  river 
rushes  down  a  rocky  channel." 

Round  Lake  township  and  railway  station  are  named  for  the  central 
and  smallest  one  of  the  three  Round  lakes  in  the  north  half  of  this  county. 
The  next  in  size  closely  adjoins  Long  lake,  and  the  largest  is  at  the  east 
side  of  Good  Hope. 

Sago  township  received  this  name  after  several  others  had  been  suc- 
cessively chosen  but  found  inadmissible,  being  previously  used  elsewhere 
in  Minnesota.  It  was  suggested  by  one  of  the  county  commissioners  be- 
cause sago  pudding  was  served  at  their  dinner. 

Sand  Lake  township  bears  the  name  of  its  large  lake,  through  which 
the  Big  fork  flows,  next  below  Bowstring  lake. 

Spang  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Matthew  A.  Spang,  a  Inm- 
ber  manufacturer  at  Grand  Rapids,  who  was'  the  county  auditor  when 
this  township  was  organized. 

Split  Hand  township  received  the  i 
creek,  translated  from  the  Ojibway  nam 
map. 

Swan  River,  a  railway  village  and  junction,  is  named  for  the  river 
near  it,  which  flows  from  Swan  lake.  This  is  a  translation  of  the  Ojib- 
way name,  Wabiziwi,  noted  by  Gilfillan. 

Thibd  River  township  is  crossed  by  the  river  of  this  name,  the  third 
in  the  order  from  east  to  west,  tributary  to  the  north  side  of  Lake  Winne- 
bago shish. 


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ITASCA  COUNTY  257 

Trout  Lake  township  is  named  for  its  latest  lake,  translated  from 
Namegoss  or  Namegosi,  as  the  Ojibway  word  is  spelled  respectively  by 
Baraga  and  Gillillan. 

Warba,  a  railway  village  in  Feeley  township,  was  formerly  called 
Verna,  but  was  renamed  by  officers  of  the  Great  Northern  railway  com- 
pany, probably  for  Waiba,  the  Ojibway  word  meaning  soon. 

Wawina,  the  most  southeastern  township  of  this  county,  received  the 
name  of  its  earlier  railway  village,  an  Ojibway  word,  meaning  "I  name 
him  often,  .  .  .  mention  him  frequently,"  as  defined  in  Baraga's  Diction- 
ary. 

Welleb's  Spur  is  a  railway  village  five  miles  southeast  of  Deer  River. 

WiNNEBAOosHisn  is  a  township  of  the  Indian  Reservation  at  the  north 
side  of  the  large  lake  of  this  name,  which  has  been  fully  noticed  in  the 
chapter  for  Cass  county. 

Wirt  township  was  named  by  0.  E.  Walley,  its  first  settler,  probably 
for  a  toviTiship  iu  New  York  or  a  county  in  West  Virginia,  where  the 
name  was  given  in  honor  of  William  Wirt  (b.  1772.  d.  1834),  who  was  the 
attorney  general  of  the  United  States  in  1817-29. 

Z&MPLE  village  needs  further  inquiry  for  the  origin  of  its  name. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  preceding  pages  have  given  sufficient  mention  of  Ball  Club  lake, 
Balsam' lake  and  creek,  Bass  brook  and  lake,  Bear  river  and  lake,  the  Big 
fork  of  Rainy  river.  Blackberry  lake  and  brook,  Bowstring  lake,  a  name 
that  is  also  given  to  the  Big  fork  by  the  Ojibways,  Deer  lake  and  river, 
Lake  Jessie  and  Little  Jessie  lake,  Prairie  river  and  lake.  Long  lake, 
Pokegama  lake  and  falls,  the  three  Round  lakes.  Sand  lake.  Split  Hand 
lake  and  creek,  Swan  river  and  lake.  Third  river,  and  Trout  lake. 

Lake  Winnebago shish,  as  it  should  be  spelled  in  accordance  with  its 
Ojibway  pronunciation,  lies  in  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  boun- 
dary between  Cass  and  Itasca  counties,  so  that  it  has  previously  received 
attention. 

In  addition  to  the  southern  Deer  lake  and  river,  which  gave  their 
names  to  townships  and  a  large  village,  this  county  has  a  second  lake 
and  river  of  this  name,  tributary  to  the  Big  fork. 

The  following  lakes  remain  to  be  mentioned,  in  their  order  from  south 
to  north,  and  from  east  to  west. 

Cowhorn  lake  is  named  for  its  shape. 

Lake  Siseebakwet,  as  spelled  on  recent  maps,  but  given  by  Gilfillan 
as  Sinzi-ba-quat,  is  a  name  received  from  the  Ojibways,  meaning  Sugar 
lake,  having  reference  to  their  making  maple  sugar. 

Rice  Jake,  in  Bass  Brook  township,  is  named  for  wild  rice. 

Southeast  of  Swan  lake  are  Hart,  Helen,  and  Beauty  lakes. 

Trout  Lake  township  has  Mud  take,  one  of  our  most  frequent  lake 


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258  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Grand  Rapids  township  has  Horseshoe  lalce,  Lily,  Haie,  and  Crystal 
lakes.  The  third  was  named  in  honor  of  James  T.  Hale,  a  member  of 
the  State  Tax  Commission,  who  formerly  lived  here. 

White  Oak  point  on  the  Mississippi,  a  lake  of  the  same  name,  and  the 
ittl  Wh't  O  k  I  d'  1  Reservation,  are  translated  from  the  Ojibway 
f  tl      p      t  N      ijimijikan,  as  noted  by  Gilfillan. 

N  th  t  d  t  of  Swan  lake  are  Ox  Hide,  Snowball,  and  Panasa 
Ik         Th     1    t  Ojibway  name,  meaning  a  young  bird. 

Sh     1  I  k    1       b  t      en  Prairie  and  Bass  lakes, 

Ch       1  k  th    west  end  of  Deer  lake,  was  named  for  Jonathan 

Ch        wl  bo  Sebec,  Maine,  Dec.  31,  1818,  and  died  at  his  home 

M  p  1      F  b        J  1,  1904.    He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1854,  engaged 

1  mb  g  W  11  Lacs  county,  and  later  owned  an  interest  in  the 
i    g        w     11      ton  River,  Cass  county. 

C      k  d  1  k     1  ry  irregularly  branched  outlines. 

L  w  I  k     w        laraed  for  Hugh  Lawrence,   a   Minneapolis  lum- 

b    m         h     h  d      I  gg  ng  camp  there. 

W  b  Ik  d  tl  Little  Wabano  lake  are  nearly  like  an  Ojibway 
w     d    w  b        th  t    tiie  morning  twilight.     Wabiin  is  its  spelling  in 

Tl  g    f  H    w  th   "  and  Waupun  as  the  name  of  a  city  in  Wiscon- 

Lo  gt  11  1  ed  another  word,  wabeno,  a  magician  or  juggler, 
p  II  d  W  b  w  bj  Eiraga,  which  is  more  directly  the  source  of  the 
n  m  f  th  Ik  Wabeno  Is  a  village  name  in  northeastern  Wis- 
d  fi     d  by  G         tt  as  "men  of  the  dawn"  or  "eastern  men." 

N     t         t        d  Blue  lake,  Johnson,  Moose,  and  Island  lakes. 

B     fc  1  k  m  d  for  a  male  deer, 

P  lb  or  their  forest  cruisers  who  selected  tracts  of 

timber  for  purchase,  are  commemorated  by  Lake  Buckman,  King,  Gunn, 
Dick,  and  Smith  lakes. 

A  further  list  of  lakes,  with  those  last  named  and  westward,  com- 
prises another  Island  lake,  Ruby,  Spider,  and  Little  Long  lakes ;  Wolf 
lake,  Carriboo  lake  (more  correctly  spelled  Caribou),  Dead  Horse  and 
Grave  Jakes,  Little  Bowstring  lake,  and  Potato  lake;  and  Portage  lake, 
lying  between  Bowstring  and  Sand  lakes. 

Northward  are  Eagle,  Coon,  and  Fox  lakes ;  Turtle  and  Little  Turtle 
lakes ;  Cameron  and  Sandwick  lakes,  the  second  named  for  John  A.  Sand- 
wick,  a  pioneer  farmer ;  Bustle's  lake  and  Shine  lake,  close  north  of  the 
most  eastern  bend  of  the  Big  fork;  Lakes  Bella  and  Dora;  Spring, 
East,  and  White  Fish  lakes ;  and  Four  Towns  lake,  of  small  area,  named 
for  its  lying  in  the  corner  of  four  townships. 

Cut  Foot  Sioux  lake  is  translated  from  its  Ojibway  name,  referring 
to  a  maimed  Sioux  who  was  killed  there  in  a  battle  in  1748.  (Warren, 
"History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation,"  M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vo!.  V,  p.  184; 
Winchell,  "The  Aborigines  of  Minnesota,"  1911,  p.  S34.)  The  outlet  of 
this  lake  is  the  first  stream  found  flowing  into  the  north  side  of  Lake 


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ITASCA  COUNTY  259 

Winnebagoshish,  in  the  order  from  east  to  west.  Next  are  Pigeon  river 
and  Third  river,  the  last  giving  Us  name  to  a  township. 

Downes  creek,  flowing  into  the  west  part  of  Round  lake,  is  the  most 
western  stream  of  the  Big  Fork  basin. 

Island  lake  in  Ardenhurst,  the  third  so  named  in  this  county,  has  Elm- 
wood  island,  which  is  more  than  a  mile  long,  but  very  narrow,  indicating 
by  its  mapped  outline  that  it  is  an  esker  gravel  ridge  of  the  glacial  drift 

^  E    R  DGE 

Th    hgh           m  G    nd 

R  P  d  P        B                        g                             of 

P  k  g  m       k  w                                                                   mm     ly 

cdM         Rg  SgT        Rdg 


t  been  named. 


h   ght. 


Indian  Reservations. 

In  a  treaty  made  at  Washington,  February  22,  1855,  a  delegation  of  the 
Ojibways  of  the  upper  Mississippi  ceded  to  the  United  States  large  ^reas 
of  their  lands,  but  reserved  other  tracts.  The  Winnebagoshish  reserva- 
tion, lying  at  the  north  side  of  the  lake  of  this  name,  was  set  apart  by 
this  treaty  for  Pill^er  and  Lake  Winnebagoshish  bands  of  these  Indians. 
Its  boundaries  reached  from  the  mouth  of  the  lake  north  to  the  head  of 
the  first  river  tributary  to  it,  thence  west  to  the  Third  river,  down  this 
river  to  the  lake,  and  thence  in  a  direct  line  across  the  lake  to  the  place 
of  beginning. 

Another  reservation  for  these  bands,  on  the  north  side  of  Cass  lake, 
also  made  in  the  same  treaty,  was  later  extended  eastward  to  the  west 
side  of  Lake  Winnebagoshish  and  to  Third  river,  including  about  fifty 
square  miles  in  the  present  Itasca  county. 

Again  in  a  treaty  at  Washington,  March  19,  1867,  a  large  tract  at  the 
south  side  of  these  lakes  and  reaching  to  the  Leech  lake  and  river,  was 
reserved  to  the  Ojibways.  This  reservation,  lying  mainly  in  Cass  county, 
continues  east  across  the  Mississippi  to  include  an  area  in  Itasca  county 
nearly  equal  to  four  townships. 

The  Winnebagoshish  reservation,  enlarged  under  executive  orders  by 
the  President  in  1873  and  1674,  is  wholly  in  Itasca  county.  The  other 
two  areas,  known  as  the  Cass  Lake  and  Chippewa  reservations,  extend 
partly  into  this  county,  so  that  the  three  together  reach  from  its  western 
border  past  Winnebagoshish  and  Bail  Club  lakes  to  Deer  River  village. 

Adjoining  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Chippewa  reservation,  an  execu- 
tive order  of  October  29,  1873,  reserved  a  small  area  of  about  sixteen 
square  miles,  through  which  the  Mississippi  flows,  including  White  Oak 
point  and  the  lake  of  this  name,  whence  "it  is  known  as  the  White  Oak 
reservation.  This  lies  in  Itasca  county,  excepting  about  a  quarter  part  in 
Cass  county,  on  the  southwest  side  of  the  river. 


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\: 


JACKSON  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  May  23,  18S7,  is  stated  by  its  best  iDformed 
old  citizens,  as  also  by  J.  Fletcher  Williams,  who  from  1867  to  1893  was 
secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  and  by  Return  I.  Hol- 
combe,  writing  in  the  Pioneer  Press  Almanac  of  1896,  to  be  named  "for 
Hon,  Henry  Jackson,  the  first  merchant  in  St,  Paul."  He  was  born  in 
Abingdon,  Virginia,  February  1,  1811;  came  to  St.  Paul  in  June,  1842; 
was  appointed  the  first  justice  of  the  peace,  1843;  was  the  first  postmaster, 
1846-49;  was  a  member  of  the  first  Territorial  Legislature,  and  a  charter 
member  of  the  Historical  Society;  removed  to  Mankato  ia  1853,  where 
he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers;  and  died  there,  July  31,  1857.  In  tKe 
sumnx^r  of  1842  he  opened  the  first  store  at  St.  Paul,  in  a  cabin  built  of 
tamarack  logs  on  the  river  bank  near  Jackson  street,  which  was  named 

The  late  William  P.  Murray,  who  was  a  member  of  the  legislature 
in  1857,  at  the  time  of  formation  of  Jackson  cotinty,  dissented  from  this 
derivation  of  the  name,  asserting  that  according  to  his  recollection  it  was 
their  intention  to  commemorate  Andrew  Jackson,  the  seventh  president 
of  the  United  States. 

The  county  seat  also  has  this  name,  with  which  its  site  was  christened 
a  few  weeks  before  the  legislative  act  forming  the  county  was  passed. 
So  it  appears  that  the  name  was  first  adopted  by  pioneers  on  the  ground, 
but  whether  they  meant  to  honor  Andrew  Jackson,  the  military  hero  and 
statesman,  or  Henry  Jackson,  a  founder  of  St.  Paul  and  Mankato,  on 
their  route  from  the  east  to  this  area,  is  not  certainly  determined. 

Counties  in  twenty  other  states  of  the  Union  are  named  Jackson,  which 
with  only  one  exception,  are  noted  by  Gannett  as  in  honor  of  the  presi- 
dent Twenty-four  states  have  townships,  villages,  or  cities  of  this  name. 
Pennsylvania,  the  previous  home  of  some  of  the  pioneers  of  this  county 
and  of  Jackson,  its  county  seat,  has  seventeen  townships  thus  named,  in 
so  many  different  counties,  surpassing  any  other  state  in  such  expression 
of  admiration  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  gathered,  from  "An  Illustrated  His- 
tory of  Jackson  County,  Minnesota,"  by  Arthur  P.  Rose,  586  pages,  1910; 
and  from  I.  W.  Mahoney,  county  abstractor,  at  the  oiBce  of  the  register 
of  deeds,  and  Alexander  Fiddes,  an  early  settler,  who  was  the  postmaster 
many  years  at  Jackson,  interviewed  during  a  visit  there  in  July,  1916. 


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JACKSON  COUNTY  261 

AiBA  township,  brganiiied  September  21,  1872,  has  a  Latin  name, 
meaning  white,  which  is  also  the  name  of  villages  in  Pennsylvania, 
Michigan,  Missouri,  Texas,  and  Oregon. 

Alpha,  a  railway  village  in  Wiscnns'n  townsh'p  platted  in  1S°S  and 
incorporated  July  25,  1899,  bears  the  name  of  our  letter  \  in  the  Greek 
alphabet,  which  word  is  formed  from  the  first  and  second  Greek  letters. 
It  is  also  the  name  of  villages  m  Maryland  Indiana  Illmois  and  other 
states. 

Belmont  township  was  organized  January  5  1867  receiving  it'  nane 
from  a  settlement  of  Norwegian  immigrant'  who  cime  here  in  1860  One 
of  their  leaders,  Anders  Olson  Slaabaken  was  al  o  often  called  Anders 
Belmont,  probably  for  a  locality  in  Norway  Thi'  i'  also  n  frequent 
English  name  of  villages  and  township's  in  many  otl  er  state'; 

Christiania  township,  organized  March  4,  1871,  was  named  by  its 
settlers  for  the  capital  city  and'  chief  seaport  of  Norway.  This  name  was 
given  to  the  city  in  honor  of  Christian  IV,  king  of  Denmark  and  Norway, 
by  whom  it  was  founded  in  1624. 

Delafield  township,  finally  so  named  March  4,  1871,  was  organized 
.October  11,  1870,  being  then  called  Pleasant  Prairie  and  afterward  Orwell 
and  Bergen,  which  names  were  not  accepted  because  they  had  been  earlier 
given  to  townships  elsewhere  in  Minnesota,  This  name  is  borne  by  vil- 
lages in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin. 

Des  Moines  township,  organized  April  2,  1866,  was  at  first  called 
Jackson,  for  the  county  seat  thus  named  in  the  eastern  part  of  this  town- 
ship. About  six  weeks  later,  on  May  !6,  it  was  renamed  as  now  by  the 
county  commissioners,  for  the  river  which  flows  through  the  township 
and  county.  The  very  interesting  origin  of  this  name  has  been  noted  in 
the  first  chapter. 

Enterprise,  organized  March  4,  !87i,  was  named  in  accordance  with  the 
suggestion  of  Samuel  D,  Lockwood  and  Anders  Eoe,  early  settlers  of 
this  township. 

EwiNGTON,  organized  March  28,  1873,  was  named  in  honor  of  Thomas 
C.  Ewing  and  family,  who  were  its  first  settlers. 

Heron  Lake  township,  organized  September  7,  1870,  was  named  for 
the  large  lake  on  its  west  side,  which,  as  noted  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Williamson, 
is  translated  from  its  Sioux  or  Dakota  name.  Okabena,  (hokah,  heron; 
be,  nests ;  na,  diminutive  suffix) ,  meaning  the  nesting  place  of  herons.  Min- 
nesota has  three  common  species,  the  great  blue  heron  or  crane,  from 
which  Crane  island  of  Lake  Minnetonka  was  named,  the  green  heron,  and 
the  black-crowned  night  heron.  The  last,  found  by  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Roberts 
in  considerable  numbers  at  Heron  lake,  was  formerly  plentiful  or  fre- 
quent through  the  greater  part  of  this  state. 

Hunter,  organized  February  13,  1872,  was  named  in  honor  of  James 
Wilson  Hunter,  a  pioneer  merchant  of  Jackson,  who  at  that  time  was  the 
county  auditor.    He  was  born  in  Scotland,  August  16,  1837;  came  to  the 


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262  ML      E 

United  States  in    8 
1868,  where  he 
state  legislature 

Jackson  villa 
settlement  within 
field  in  the  summ 
west  side  of  the  D 
the  east     de     S 
maraud  ng   band 
f  ron   the  r  n  a 
ward  the  s  te  of 
year    t  was  de    Etn 
CO  ntj      But   th 
war  f  Uowed    a 
was    ncorpor^te 
adopted  for  the 

Kimball  tow 
V,  lb  r  S  K  mb 
tor  n  Chelsea 
one  yea  s  enga 
Fourth  M  n  eso 
m  1867  and  wa 
salesman    and  d 

La  Ceosse  to 
city  of  La  Cros 

the  stick  or  club 
by  the  French. 
Lakefield,  a 
the  railway  to 
was  incorporate 

MiDDLETOWN, 

May  10,  1869. 
older  organized 
MiLDMA,  the 
railways,  has  a      m 
first  three  letter 
about  twenty-fi\ 

MlNNEOTA  to 

small   lakes,   bu 
Okoboji  in  the 

ed  in  Septembe 
as  before  noted 


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JACKSON  COUNTY  263 

Petersbukc,  organized  April  2,  1866,  received  its  name  in  honor  of  Rev. 
Peter  Baker,  a  pioneer  Methodist  minister,  who  settled  in  this  township 
in  1860  and  was  its  first  postmaster. 

Rosr  township,  organized  February  3,  1874,  was  named  in  honor  of 
Frederick  Rost,  an  early  settler  who  came  there  in  1869.  It  was  at  lirst 
erroneously  spelled  Rust  in  the  record  of  the  county  commissioners  and 

Round  Lake  township,  organized  in  October,  1369,  was  named  for  the 
beautiful  lake  in  its  western  part. 

Sroux  Valley  township,  organized  February  2?,  1874,  the  latest  in 
this  county,  was  named  for  the  Little  Sioux  river,  which  flows  through 
it  and  continues  south  across  northwestern  Iowa  to  the  Missouri  river. 
The  Little  and  Big  Sioux  rivers,  the  latter  forming  the  northwest  bound- 
ary of  Iowa,  were  named  for  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  Indians,  who  inhabited 
this  region.  The  name  Sioux  is  the  terminal  part  of  Nadouesioux,  a 
term  of  hatred,  meaning  snakes,  enemies,  which  was  applied  by  the 
Ojibways   and   other  Algonquins   to   this   people. 

Weimer,  organized  May  27,  1871,  was  then  named  Eden,  which  was 
changed  to  the  present  name  October  20,  1871.  "Charles  Winzer,  the 
township's  first  settler,  selected  the  name  in  honor  of  his  home  town  in 
Germany,  Saxe-Weimar."  It  was  correctly  spelled  in  the  petition  for  its 
adoption,  but  was  copied  erroneously  in  the  county  recotids. 

West  Heron  Lake  township  was  organized  January  7,  1874,  "its  geo- 
graphical location  suggesting  the  name." 

Wilder,  a  railway  station  in  Delafield,  was  located  and  named  in 
November,  I87I.  in  honor  of  Amherst  Holcomb  Wilder,  of  St.  Paul. 
He  was  born  in  Lewis,  N.  Y.,  July  7,  1828;  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  Novem- 
ber 11,  1894.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1859,  and  engaged  in  mercantile 
business  and  also  in  stage  and  steamboat  transportation.  Later  he  was 
interested  in  building  numerous  railways  in  Minnesota  and  adjoining 
states.  By  his  will,  and  by  the  later  wills  of  his  widow  and  daughter, 
the  Amherst  H.  Wilder  Charity  was  founded,  providing  a  fund  of  about 
$3,000,000,  of  which  the  income  is  used  to  aid  the  worthy  poor  of  St. 
Paul.  The  building  of  this  village  was  begun  in  1885  It  was  platted 
December  7,  1886,  and  was  incorporated  March  28.  1899 

WrsoDNSiN  township,  organized  April  10,  1869,  was  named  in  honor  of 
the  state  from  which  a  majority  of  its  settlers  came.  This  nime  gnen 
to  the  state  from  its  large  river,  is  noted  by  Gannett  as  a  Sauk  Indnn 
word  having  reference  to  holes  in  the  banks  of  a  stream    m  which  b  rds 

[Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  preceding  pages  have  noticed  the  Des  Moines  river,  Heron  lake, 
Round  lake,  and  the   Little  Sioux   river. 

Elm  creek,  draining  the  northeastern  part  of  this  county,  flows  east 
across  Martin  county  to  the  Blue  Earth  river. 


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264  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Independence  lake,  on  the  south  line  of  Christiania,  was  named  by 
the  United  States  surveyors,  who  came  to  it  on  the  fourth  of  July-  Long 
lake  and  Fish  lake  are  crossed  respectively  by  the  east  and  north  bound- 
aries of  this  township.  Lower's  lake,  in  sections  IS  and  22,  has  been 
drained. 

The  east  part  of  Wisconsin  township  has  small  creeks  flowing  into 
Martin  county,  which  are  sources  of  the  East  fork  of  Des  Moines  river. 

Minneota  has  Loon  lake,  Pearl,  Rush,  and  Little  Spirit  lakes.  The 
last  is  named  in  contrast  with  the  much  larger  Spirit  lake  in  Iowa,  which 
is  translated  from  its  Sioux  name,  Mini  wakan,  noted  by  Nicollet.  In 
its  most  northern  part.  Spirit  lake  touches  the  boundary  of  the  state  and 
of  this  township  at  the  south  side  of  section  36. 

Tributary  to  the  West  fork  of  the  Little  Sioux  river  are  Skunk  and 
Rush  lakes  in  Spring  Valley,  Round  lake  in  the  township  bearing  its  name, 
and  also  Illinois  lake.  Plum  Island  lake,  named  for  the  grove  of  native 
plum  trees  on  its  island,  and  Iowa  or  State  Line  lake,  crossed  by  the 
Iowa  boundary  at  the  southwest  comer  of  this  county. 

Des  Moines  township  has  Qear  lake  at  the  middle  of  its  west  side, 
remarkable  for  the  depth  and  purity  of  its  Water. 

Heron  Lake  township  has  Lake  Flaherty,  an  early  name,  but  for  whom 
it  was  given  remains  to  be  ascertained. 

Timber  lake,  named  for  its  lone  grove  in  this  broad  prairie  region, 
adjoins  the  south  side  of  Wilder  village.  It  has  been  also  called  Lake 
Minneseka,  a  Sioux  name  meaning  "bad  water." 

Lake  Carroll,  formerly  mapped  in  section  4,  Delafield,  h^s  been  drained. 

Jack  and  Okabena  creeks  flow  into  the  west  side  of  Heron  Jake,  the 
former  being  probably  named  from  jack  rabbits,  and  the  latter  bearing 
the  Sioux  name  for  Heron  lake. 


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KANABEC  COUNTY 

Established  March  13,  1858,  and  organized  in  1882,  this  county  bears 
a  name  proposed  by  William  H.  C.  Folsom,  of  Taylor's  Falls,  who,  as  a 
member  of  the  state  senate  in  1858,  introduced  the  legislative  bill  for  the 
formation  of  the  county.  Kanabec  is  the  usual  word  for  a  snake  in  the 
language  of  the  Ojibways,  given  by  them  to  the  Snake  river  flowing 
through  Kanabec  and  Pine  counties  to  the  St.  Croix.  It  has  a  heavy 
accent  on  the  second  syllable,  with  the  English  long  sound  of  the  vowel, 
being  thus  pronounced  quite  unlike  the  name  of  the  Kennebec  river  in 
Maine.  The  latter  name,  accented  on  the  first  syllable,  is  of  different 
etymology,  meaning  "long  lake, — a  name  of  Moosehead  lake  transferred 
to  the  river." 

This  Ojibway  word  is  variously  spelled,  but  has  only  slight  difference 
of  prontindation.  On  Nicollet's  map  it  is  Kinebik;  in  Wilson's  Manual 
of  this- language,  kenabig;  and  in  Baraga's  Dictionary,  which  is  followed 
by  Gilfillan  and  Verwyst  in  their  lists  of  Ojibway  names,  it  is  ginebig, 
but  this  is  pronounced,  in  French  style,  nearly  like  our  English  form  of 
the  word  in  the  county  name. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  of  geographic  names  in  this  county  has  been  received 
from  "Fifty  Years  in  the  Northwest,",  by  W.  H.  C.  Folsom,  763  pages, 
1888 ;  and  from  A.  V.  Sander,  county  auditor,  A.  M.  Anderson,  register 
of  deeds,  Olof  P.  Victorien,  judge  of  probate,  and  Hon.  J.  C.  Pope, 
each  of  Mora,  the  county  seat,  interviewed  during  a  visit  there  in  May, 
1916. 

Ann  Lake  township,  its  lake  of  this  name,  and  the  outflowing  Ann 
river,  tributary  to  the  Snake  river,  commemorate  an  Ojibway  woman 
who  lived  beside  the  lake.    ("Kathio,"  by  J.  V.  Brower,  1901,  page  114.) 

Arthur  township,  organized  in  1883,  was  named  by  Charles  E.  Wil- 
liams, of  Mora,  in  honor  of  Chester  Alan  Arthur,  the  twenty-first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  who  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Vt.,  October  S, 
1830,  and  died  in  New  York  city,  November  18,  1886.  He  was  graduated 
at  Union  College  in  1848;  practiced  law  in  New  York  city;  was  inspector 
general  of  state  troops  during  the  civil  war;  was  collector  of  the  port  of 
New  York,  18?l-78;  was  elected  Vice-President  in  1880,  and  succeeded 
Garfield,  who  died  September  19,  1881.  His  term  as  President  extended 
to  March  4,  1885. 

Brunswick  township,  organized  in  1883,  received  its  name  from  Bruns- 
wick village  and  township  in  Maine,  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
Androscoggin  river,  whence  many  pioneer  lumbermen  came  to  the  pin- 


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266  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

eries  of  the  St.  Croix  and  Snake  rivers.  A  village  of  this  name,  platted  in 
1856  in  section  1  of  this  township,  was  the  first  county  seat. 

Comfort  township  bears  a  surname  of  early  settlers. 

FoED  township,  organized  in  1916,  the  latest  in  this  county,  was  former- 
ly included  in  Peace  township.  It  was  named  for  Henry  Ford,  of  Detroit, 
Mich.,  a  wealthy  manufacturer  of  automobiles,  who  conducted  a  large 
delegation  from  this  country  to  Europe  in  December,  1915,  to  confer 
with  the  nations  at  war  and  to  intercede  for  restoration  of  peace. 

Geass  Lajse  township,  organized  in  1883,  formerly  had  a  small  lake 
of  this  name,  now  drained,  in  sections  13  and  24,  which  was  mostly  filled 
with  tall  marsh  grass,  the  water  being  very  shallow.  From  this  lake  was 
also  derived  the  name  of  Grasston,  the  railway  village  in  section  12. 

Hay  Brook  township  was  named  for  the  brook  flowing  through  it, 
having  meadows  which  supplied  hay  for  winter  logging  camps. 

HiLLMAN  township  was  named  in  honor  of  William  F.  Hiilman,  a 
pioneer  farmer  there. 

Kanabec  township,  like  the  county,  bears  the  Ojibway  name  of  the 

Knife  Lake  township  received  its  name  from  the  Knife  lake  and 
river,  which  are  translated  from  their  Sioux  and  Ojibway  names.  The 
first  knives  of  iron  or  steel  obtained  by  the  Sioux,  in  the  winter  of  1659- 
60,  were  brought  here  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  and  the  Huron  and 
Ottawa  Indians  who  accompanied  them,  as  noted  for  Isanti  county. 

Kboschel  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Herman  Kroschel,  one 
of  its  first  settlers. 

MoKA,  a  village  on  the  railway  in  Arthur  township,  was  platted  in 
1882,  when  by  popular  vote  it  succeeded  Brunswick  as  the  county  seat. 
It  was  named  by  Myron  R.  Kent,  owner  of  its  site,  for  the  city  ot  Mora 
at  the  northwest  end  of  Siljan  lake  in  central  Sweden. 

Ogilvie,  the  railway  village  of  Kanabec  township,  commemorates  Oric 
Ogilvie  Whited,  for  whom  also  Whited  township  was  named. 

Peace  township  was  named  by  vote  of  its  people,  this  name  being  sug- 
gested in  contrast  with  its  village  of  Warman, 

PoMKOY  township  was  named,  as  also  Pomroy  lake,  crossed  by  its  west 
line,  in  honor  of  John  Pomroy,  a  pioneer  lumberman  who  had  a  loggitig 
camp  beside  the  lake. 

QuAMBA,,  a  railway  village  in  Whited,  was  named  by  oflicers  of  the 
Great  Northern  railway  company. 

South  Fork  township  is  crossed  by  the  Soath  branch  or  fork  of  the 
Ground  House  river. 

Warman,  a  village  in  sections  5  and  6,  Peace,  having  granite  quarries, 
was  named  in  honor  of  S.  M.  Warman,  a  quarry  owner  there,  who  was 
killed  by  the  fall  of  a  derrick. 

Whftei)  township,  like  Ogilvie  village,  was  named  in  honor  of  Oric 
Ogilvie  Whited,  of  Minneapolis.  He  was  born  in  Fitchville,  Ohio,  Janu- 
ary 20,  1854 ;  was  graduated  at  the  State  Normal  School,  Winona,  Minn., 


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KANABEC  COUNTY  267 

1872;  taught  school  several  years  in  Olmsted  county,  and  later  was  the 
county  superintendent  of  schools;  was  admitted  to  practice  law,  1884; 
settled  in  Minneapolis  in  1890,  engaged  in  real  estate  business  and  law 
practice,  and  owned  numerous  tracts  of  land  in  this  county.  He  died  in 
Minneapolis,  August  6,  1912. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  foregoing  pages  have  noted  the  Snake  river,  Ann  lake  and  river. 
Grass  lake,  Hay  brook.  Knife  lake  and  river,  Pomroy  lake,  aod  the  South 
fork  of  Ground  House  river. 

A  tradition  among  the  Sioui  and  Ojibways  cited  by  Wincheil  in  "The 
Abongines  of  Minnesota  {page  67)  told  of  Hidalsa  Indians  a  branch 
of  the  great  Dakotan  stock  anciently  living  in  Minnesota  who  were 
drnen  westnard  to  the  Missouri  river  bi  the  coming  of  the  bioux  These 
Indians  lived  m  wooden  hut«  covered  with  earth  whence  probablj  came 
the  aboriginal  name  that  we  retain  m  translation  as  the  Ground  House 
river  draining  the  southwest  part  of  this  countv  It  s  called  Earth  Fort 
river  on  the  map  of  Owens  Geological  Reptrt   puUisbed  ii  1852 

Tributaries  of  the  Snake  river  in  their  order  from  wuth  to  north  in 
this  countv  include  on  \t^  east  side  Mud  creek  flowing  through  Mud 
lake  Chesley  brook  also  called  Lttle  Snake  mer  and  Cowans  brook 
the  second  and  third  being  named  fcr  pioneer  lumbermen  and  on  the 
weat  side  Rice  creek,  named  for  ita  wild  rice  Ground  House  Ann  and 
Knife  rivers  prefiouslj  noticed  Moccasin  brook  into  which  Snow  Shoe 
brook  flows  Hay  brook  and  Bergman  s  brook  near  the  north  line  of  the 
county  The  last  bears  the  name  of  a  lumberman  whoie  logging  camp 
was  on  this  brook 

The  picturesque  Upper  falls  and  Lower  falls  of  the  Snake  rner  are 
respectnel}  about  two  milei  and  three  miles  south  ol  the  nirth  boundary 
of  thi'i  countv 

Among  the  few  lakes  that  remain  to  be  mentioned  Brunswu-k  has 
Devils  lake  m  section  4  Pennington  lake  in  section  13  now  dra  ned 
named  lor  Jame''  Pennington  who  near  it  opened  the  firsit  farm  in  the 
county  and  Lewis  lake  in  the  southwest  corner  of  this  town  hip  named 
for  a  pioneer  settler  beside  it 

'Arthur  township  has  Spring  lake  m  sections  I  and  12  Lake  Mora  m 
the  village  of  this  name  Kent  lake  in  sections  lo  and  21  commemorating 
Mvron  E.  Kent  who  platted  and  named  this  village  and  Fish  lake 
through  which  Ann  river  flows    in  sections  33  and  34 

K  lake  beside  Snake  river  m  sections  10  and  15  Peace  is  mapped 
as    Full  of  Fi^ih  lake     a  translation  from  its  Ojibwaj   name 

Kroschel  has  Bass  lake  m  section  1  Loon  lake  in  sections  3  and  4 
Long  lake  and  Bland  lake  in  sections  4  and  5  Beauty  lake  in  section  10 
Lake  Eleven,  in  the  section  having  this  number ,  Pike  lake,  in  section  13 , 
Feathery  lake  and  Muskrat  lake,  in  section  24 ;  and  White  Lily  lake,  in 
section  27,  named  for  its  abundance  of  the  fragrant  white  water-lily. 


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-t      KANDIYOHI  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  March  20,  1858,  bears  the  Dakota  or  Sioux 
name  of  one  or  several  of  its  lakes,  meaning  "where  the  buffalo  fish 
come."  Williamson  states  that  it  is  from  "kandi,  buffalo  fish;  y,  euphonic; 
ohi,  arrive  in,"  Our  three  species  of  buffalo  fish,  Ictiobus  cjprinella, 
I.  iirus,  and  I.  babalus,  at  their  spawning  season  in  May  and  June 
leave  the  large  rivers,  in  which  fhey  live  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and 
come,  sometimes  in  immense  numbers,  to  the  lakes  at  the  head  of  the 
small  streams.  The  first  named  species,  when  mature,  often  attains  the 
weight  of  30  to  40  pounds ;  and  the  second  and  third  are  about  two  thirds 
as  large. 

Lawson,  the  historian  of  the  county,  writes : 

"It  is  believed  that  in  early  times  the  Indians  applied  this  name  to  the 
entire  group  of  lakes  which  form  the  sources  of  the  Crow  river.  Until 
very,  recent  years  buffalo  fish  and  other  kindred  species  came  up  the 
rivers  and  small  streams  every  spring  to  find  spawning  places  in  these 

"The  name  Kandiyohi  was  first  made  known  to  white  men  by  Joseph 
Nicholas  Nicollet,  who  in  1836-41  explored  the  region  now  comprising 
Minnesota.  .  .  .  He  did  not  personally  visit  this  section,  but  secured  his 
information  about  the  sources  of  the  Crow  from  Indians.  ...  It  was 
not  until  I8S6  that  white  men  acquired  any  definite  knowledge  as  to  the 
extent  and  character  of  these  lakes.  In  that  year  four  different  parties 
of  townsite  promoters  visited  the  region  now  embraced  within  the  boun- 
daries of  our  county  and  gave  separate  names  to  the  different  lakes  which 
attracted  their  attention.  The  name  Kandiyohi  was  appropriated  by  one 
of  these  companies,  and  two  of  the  lakes  in  the  southern  group  were  by 
them  named  Big  and  Little  Kandiyohi.  When  a  new  county  was  organ- 
ized the  historic  Indian  name  was  adopted." 

In  the  accepted  pronunciation,  which  differs  somewhat  from  the  Dako- 
ta usage,  this  name  accents  its  first  and  last  syllables,  the  last  having  the 
English  long  sound  of  the  vowel. 

At  first  the  area  of  this  county  was  divided  under  legislative  acts  of 
March  8  and  20,  1858,  in  two  counties,  each  comprising  twelve  congres- 
sional townships.  The  north  half  was  named  Monongalia  county,  and 
during  twelve  years  Kandiyohi  county  .had  only  the  south  half  of  its 
present  area,  until  in  1870  they  were  united.  The  name  Monongalia  was 
derived  from  the  county  so  named  in  Virginia  (now  in  West  Virginia), 
being  Latinized  from  the  Delaware  Indian  word,  Monongahela,  "river 
with  the  sliding  banks,"  given  to  the  stream  which  unites  with  the 
Allegheny  at  Pittsburg,  forming  the  Ohio  river. 

Z6S 


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KANDIYOHI  COUNTY  269 

Townships  and  Villages. 

The  origins  and  meanings  of  the  geographic  names  in  this  county  have 
been  learned  from  the  "Dlustrated  History  and  Descriptive  and  Biograph- 
ical Review  of  Kandiyohi  County,"  by  Victor  E.  Lawson  and  Martin  E. 
Tew,  446  pages,  1905 ;  and  from  interviews  with  Samuel  Nelson,  county 
auditor,  and  Mr.  Lawson,  editor  of  the  Willmar  Tribune  and  principal 
author  of  the  admirable  folio  History  here  cited,  during  a  visit  at  Will- 
mar,  the  county  seat,  in  May,  1916. 

Arctander  township,  organized  April  4,  1879,  was  named  in  honor  of 
John  W.  Arctander,  who  during  ten  years,  1876-86,  was  a  resident  of  this 
county,  being  an  attorney  in  Willmar,  and  thence  removed  to  Minneapolis. 
He  was  born  in  Stockholm,  Sweden,  October  2,  1849;  was  graduated  at 
the  Royal  University  of  Norway,  1870,  and  the  same  year  came  to  the 
United  States;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1874,  and  soon  afterward  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  law.  In  1875  he  published  a  handbook  of  the  laws  of 
Minnesota  in  the  Norwegian  language. 

Atwater,  the  railway  village  in  Gennessee,  founded  in  1869,  was  named 
in  honor  of  E.  D.  Atwater,  secretary  of  the  land  department  of  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific  railway.    It  was  incorporated  February  17,  1876. 

BuRBANK  township,  organized  in  August,  1866,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Henry  Clay  Burbank,  a  well  known  merchant  in  St.  Paul  and  St.  Cloud 
"held  in  high  esteem  by  the  early  settlers  for  favors  extended."  He  was 
born  in  Lewis,  N.  Y.,  May  4,  1835 ;  and  died  in  Rochester,  Minn.,  February 
23,  1905.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  came  to  St,  Paul,  and  with  his 
brother,  James  C.  Burbank,  engaged  in  forwarding  and  commission  busi- 
ness and  wholesale  grocery  trade.  The  firm  transported  supplies  and  furs 
for  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  owned  wagon  trains  and  steamboats 
on  the  Red  river.    He  was  a  state  senator  in  1873. 

Colfax  township,  organized  June  24,  1871,  was  at  first  called  I.^ke 
Prairie,  but  in  September  of  the  same  year  it  was  renamed  in  honor  of 
Schuyler  Colfax  (b,  1823,  d,  1885),  who  in  1869-73  was  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States. 

DovRs  township,  organized  April  6,  1869,  received  its  name  from  its 
prominent  morainic  hills  in  sections  20  and  21,  which  the  early  Norwegian 
settlers  called  the  Dovre  hills,  in  remembrance  of  the  Dovrefjeld  moun- 
tains and  high  plateau  on  the  boundary  between  Norway  and  Sweden. 

East  Lake  Lillian  township,  organized  March  6,  1893,  had  been  since 
1872  the  east  half  of  Lake  Lillian,  named  for  the  lake  crossed  by  the 
boundary  between  these  townships. 

Edwards  township,  established  September  7,  1871,  was  named  in  honor 
of  S.  S.  Edwards,  a  pioneer  settler  who  was  the  leader  for  its  organisa- 

Fahlun,  established  March  20,  1877,  bears  "the  popular  name  of  the 
home  county  in  Sweden  of  a  number  of  the  early  settlers."    The  chief 


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270  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

city  o£  that  district,  also  named  Falilun  or  Falun,  is  sometimes  called 
"the  Treasury  of  Sweden,"  having  mines  o£  copper,  silver,  and  gold. 

Gennessee,  organized  in  1858,  was  named  (with  changed  spelling) 
for  the  Genesee  river  in  New  York,  whence  several  of  its  first  pioneers 
had  come  in  18S7.  This  name  means,  according  to  Gannett,  "shining 
valley"  or  "beautiful  valley,"  in  its  native  Indian  language  of  New  York; 
but  the  too  liberal  spelling  here  used,  yet  v^ithout  change  in  pronunciation, 
came  from  Tennessee. 

Green  Lake  township,  established  in  January,  1868,  received  its  name 
from  the  large  lake  on  its  nortli  boundary,  which  was  named  August  10, 
1856,  by  the  first  party  of  settlers.  On  that  day  they  selected  a  town- 
site  on  the  southwestern  shore  of  this  lake,  now  occupied  by  the  village 
of  Spicer,  in  sections  3  and  4  of  this  township.  "They  were  enraptured 
by  the  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  and  from  its  peculiar  shade  of  bottle 
green  christened  it  Green  lake.  To  their  future  city  they  gave  the  name 
of  Columbia." 

Harhison  township,  established  April  25,  1858,  was  named  in  honor 
of  Joseph  D.  Harris,  who  settled  here  in  August,  1857,  and  was  the  first 
postmaster  and  the  first  town  clerk.  He  was  bom  in  Nova  Scotia  in 
May,  1834,  and  died  May  7,  187a 

Holland  township  was  established  July  23,  1888.  Its  settlers  "were 
principally  Hollanders,  or  of  Holland  descent,  but  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Swedes  and  Germans." 

Irving  township,  organized  March  27,  1868,  took  its  name  from  a 
townsite  platted  on  the  east  side  of  Green  lake  in  1856  by  Eugene  M. 
Wilson,  of  Minneapolis,  who  later  was  a  congressman,  and  others.  This 
name  was  probably  selected  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  American 
author,  Washington  Irving  (b.  1783.  d.  1859). 

Kandiyohi  township  was  established  March  1,  1868,  then  including 
also  the  present  townships  of  Fahlun,  Whitefield,  and  Willraar.  It  was 
named,  like  the  county,  for  the  Kandiyohi  lakes.  The  railway  village, 
named  for  the  township,  was  founded  when  the  railway  was  built,  in 
1869,  and  was  incorporated  May  7,  1904. 

An  earlier  townsite  of  this  name,  platted  in  October,  1856,  in  section 
25  of  this  township  and  the  adjoining  section  30  of  Gennessee,  at  the 
north  side  of  Lakes  Kasota  and  Minnetaga,  aspired  to  become  the  capital 
of  Minnesota,  for  which  purpose  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature  in 
March,  1869,  but  was  vetoed  by  Governor  Marshall.  This  project  was 
again  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  legislature  in  1871,  and  also  in  I89I 
and  1893,  but  received  no  favorable  action.  In  1901  the  "capitol  lands," 
which,  had  been  acquired  here  by  the  state  in  1858,  were  sold  for  use  in 
farming. 

Lake  Andrew  township,  organized  March  19,  1872,  received  the  name 
given  to  this  lake  in  the  summer  of  1857  by  Andrew  Holes,  one  of  the 
first  two  settlers,  being  carved  by  him  "in  large,  plain  letters  upon  one  of 
the  Cottonwood  trees"  of  its  south  shore. 


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KANDIYOHI  COUNTY  271 

Lake  Elizabeth  township,  organized  April  16,  1869,  bears  the  name 
of  the  lake  crossed  hy  its  nnrth  boundary,  given  "in  honor  of  the  wife  of 
A.  C.  Smith,  the  early  lawyer  and  receiver  at  the  United  States  land 
office  at  Forest  City."  Lakes  Elia  and  Carrie,  closely  adjoining  the  north 
side  of  this  lake,  in  Gennessee,  were  named  for  her  daughters. 

Lake  Lilliam  township  was  organized  January  23.  1872.  The  lake 
was  named  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  an  artist  and  author,  Edwin  White- 
field,  who  accompanied  the  iirst  exploring  party  to  the  Kandiyohi  lakes 
in  the  summer  of  1856. 

Mamhe  township,  organized  April  6,  1870,  took  the  name  given  in  1866 
to  the  lake  in  sections  II,  12,  and  14,  by  one  of  the  first  three  settlers, 
John  Rodman,  whose  homestead  claim  was  on  the  southwest  arm  of  this 
lake.  "He  gave  the  name  Mamre  to  his  new  home  locality,  from  the 
Biblical  reference  to  the  home  of  Abram  in  the  Promised  Land." 

New  London  township,  organized  August  25,  1866,  derived  its  name 
from  the  village,  which  was  founded  in  186S,  by  building  a  sawmill,  and 
was  incorporated  April  8,  1889.  The  name  was  chosen  by  Louis  Larson, 
"from  a  similarity  he  saw  with  the  location  of  New  London,  Wis.,  a 
prospering  village  of  his  old  home  county." 

NORWAV  Lake  township,  organized  in  August,  1866,  at  first  included 
also  (he  present  townships  of  Arctander,  Lake  Andrew,  Mamre,  and 
Dovre.  It  was  named  for  the  largest  lake  of  its  original  area,  lying  main- 
ly in  Lake  Andrew  township,  around  which  many  Norwegian  immigrants 
settled. 

Pennqtk.  the  railway  village  of  St.  John's  township,  founded  in  1870- 
71,  with  the  building  of  this  railway,  at  first  bore  the  township  name.  In 
the  fall  of  1891  it  was  renamed  in  honor  of  George  Pennock,  of  Willmar, 
superintendent  of  this  division  of  the  Great  Northern  railway. 

Prinsburq,  a  hamlet  at  the  center  of  Holland  township,  platted  in 
1886,  commemorates. Martin  Prins,  member  of  a  land  firm  in  Holland, 
who  came  here  and  Jn  1884  acquired  about  35,000  acres  of  railroad  lands, 
mostly  in  this  county.     He  died  in  1887. 

Raymond,  a  railway  village  in  Edwards,  platted  in  1887,  was  named 
for  Raymond  Spicer,  a  son  of  John  M.  Spicer,  of  Willmar,  who  was  the 
founder  of  Spicer  villj^e. 

RoSELAND  township  was  organized  March  16,  1889,  its  name  being 
chosen  by  Peter  Lindquist,  the  first  settler,  who  same  in  the  spring  of 
1869.     ''In  Swedish  the  name  is  the  usual  designation  for  a  flower  gar- 

RoSEViLLE  township,  organized  August  25.  1866.  was  named  as  sug- 
gested by  Joseph  Cox.  "on  account  of  the  profusion  of  wild  roses  growing 
and  in  bloom  upon  the  prairie." 

St.  John's  township,  first  settled  in  1868,  was  established  by  a  special 
act  of  the  legislature,  February  27,  1872,  and  was  organized  a  month 
later.    It  bears  a  name  given  to  a  locality  on  its  north  line  by  an  early 


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272  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

map  of  the  state,  published  in  1860,  probably  noting  a  proposed  site  for  a 
Catholic  colony,  whence  the  lake  in  sections  1  and  2  became  known  as 
St  John's  lake. 

Spicer,  a  railway  villagt  in  the  north  edge  of  Green  Lake  township, 
was  platted  in  1886,  on  the  aeserted  early  townsite  of  Columbia,  and  was 
named  in  honor  of  J;'.n  M.  Spicer,  its  founder  and  owner  of  the  site, 
who  was  the  president  of  the  company  building  this  railway  line.  Ray- 
mond village  was  named  for  his  son,  as  before  noted. 

Whitefjeld  township  was  established  June  6,  1870.  Its  name  is  from 
a  proposed  townsife  selected  by  an  exploring  party  in  the  early  autumn 
of  1856,  on  the  northwest  shore  of  Lake  Wagonga,  in  sections  1  and  11, 
named  in  honor  of  Edwin  Whitefield,  a  landscape  artist,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  party.  Lake  Lillian,  named  for  his  wife,  is  the  source  of 
another  township  name,  as  before  noted. 

Wu-LMAR  township,  established  January  4,  1870,  took  the  name  of  its 
village,  platted  in  1869  when  the  railroad  here  was  built  The  townsite 
was  selected  and  named  by  George  F.  Becker,  president  of  the  railroad. 
"Leon  Willmav,  a  native  of  Belgium,  at  that  time  residing  in  London, 
was  the  agent  for  the  European  bondholders  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific 
railroad  company,  and  it  was  in  his  honor  that  the  town  was  named.  He 
afiterwards  secured  several  hundred  acres  of  land  around  the  northeast- 
ern shores  of  Foot  lake,  and  presented  the  same  to  his  son,  Paul  Willmar, 
who  a  few  years  before  had  served  as  a  soldier  of  fortune  under  Maxi- 
milian, the  adventurous  invader  of  Mexico."  Expensive  buildings  were 
erected  in  1871  for  the  Willmar  farm,  on  section  1  of  this  township, 
where  during  ten  years  Paul  Willmar  conducted  operations  on  an  ex- 
tensive scale.  In  1881  he  sold  this  large  farm  and  returned  to  Belgium, 
his  native  land.  Willmar  village  was  incorporated  January  16,  1874;  and 
its  city  charter  was  adopted  November  19,  1901. 

Lakes  and  Streams. 

The  foregoing  pages  have  noted  the  names  of  the  Kandiyohi  lakes, 
Green  lake,  Lakes  Andrew,  Elizabeth,  and  Lillian,  Lakes  Ella  and  Carrie, 
Lake  Marare,  Norway  lake,  and  St.  John's  lake. 

Shakopee  creek,  flowing  west  to  the  lake  of  this  name  in  Chippewa 
county,  is  noticed  in  the  chapter  for  that  county ;  and  Hawk  and  Chetamba 
creeks,  having  their  sources  here,  are  noticed  under  Renville  county. 

Many  lakes  remain  to  be  mentioned,  but  a  considerable  number  have 
names  that  require  no  explanation,  and  others  of  small  size  are  unnamed. 
The  list  follows  the  numerical  order  of  the  townships  from  south  to 
north,  and  of  the  ranges  from  east  to  west 

Dog  lake,  in  East  Lake  Lillian  township,  and  others  smaller  and  with- 
out names,  have  been  drained  and  are  now  farm  lands. 

Fox  lake,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  Lake  Lillian  township,  and 
Grove  lake  on  its  west  side,  named  for  the  grove  on  its  island,  have  been 
drained. 


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KANDIYOHI  COUNTY  273 

Lake  Elizabeth  township  has  Johnson  lake  in  sections  10  and  11,  and 
Otter  lake  in  sections  10  and  IS.  Lakes  Charlotte  and  Mary,  now  drained, 
were  "in  its  southwest  part. 

Fahlun  has  Lake  Fanny  and  Wagonga  lake,  which  was  formerly  called 
Grass  lake,  in  translation  of  this  Dakota  or  Sioux  name.  The  latter, 
reaching  west  into  Whitefield,  is  erroneously  spelled  Waconda  by  some 

Lake  Milton  was  in  sections  7  and  18,  Whitefield,  and  Stevens  lake  in 
section  20,  but  both  are  drained. 

Edwards  has   Bad  Water  lake,  through  which  Hawk  creek  flows  at    . 
Raymond;  Olson  lake,  in  sednon  26;  and  Vick  lake,  drained,  in  sections 
29  and  30. 

Gennessee  has  Summit  lake,  in  sections  9  and  10,  referring  to  the 
building  of  the  railroad,  which  very  near  the  west  line  of  this  township 
crosses  its  highest  land  between  St.  Paul  and  Breckenridge ;  Pay  lake, 
of  smaller  size,  in  section  10,  where  the  paymaster  in  that  work  had  his 
camp ;  Lakes  Ella  and  Carrie,  before  noticed  in  their  relationship  with 
Lake  Elizabeth  ■  and  L^ke  Mi  inetiga  compounded  of  Dakota  words 
minne  water   and  laai   froth   foam 

In  Kandijohi  township  are  Lake  Kasota  a  Dakota  name  meanmg  a 
cleared  place  and  Swan  lake  each  Ijmg  close  to  the  north  i  de  of  Little 
Kandijohi  lake  witl  which  Lake  Kasota  is  connected  h)  a  'Jtrait 

WiUmar  has  Foot  lake  adjom  ng  the  citj  named  in  honor  of  the  first 
settler  1  ere  W  llmar  lake  which  adjoms  the  former  \\illmar  farm  be 
mg  a  northeaster  baj  of  Foot  lake  c  nnected  theicwith  by  a  narrow 
p^ss^ge  and  Griss  like  which  was  shall  w  ani  mostly  tilled  ^ith 
marsh  grass   hut    s  nuw  drained 

Solnmon  R  Fcot  commen  orated  bj  the  lake  beinng  his  name  was 
born  in  Do\er  Oho  Ma\  jO  182'^  came  to  M  nnesota  in  1857  and  m 
June  took  a  hon  estead  claim  on  the  'hore  of  this  lake  being  the  first 
settler  of  W  ill  mar  townshp  remo\ed  about  six  years  later  to  Melrose 
in  Stearns  countj  where  he  built  a  hotel  and  was  the  first  pcitmaster 
removed  to  Mmot  N  D  in  1888  spent  lis  last  few  jears  n  Cahfomia 
w  th  his  children  a  d  died  March  15  1903  A  other  lake  n  Dovre  is 
also  named  for  hin 

The  largest  lake  n  Harrison  was  ■vis  ted  n  September  1R5&  l\  a 
part\  of  explorers  ndio  came  from  St  Peter  The  crystal  brightness 
of  the  lake  impressed  them  and  they  named  t  D  amond  lake  Other 
lakes  m  this  township  are  Jessie  lake  crossed  h\  the  north  1  ne  of  section 
6  RieS  and  Swens  n  lakes  drained  in  secti  n  IS  Sperrj  lake  section 
16,  Taits  lake,  section  19,  Thomas  lake,  drained,  m  sections  21  and  22, 
Schultz  lake,  in  sections  23  and  26;  and  Wheeler  lake,  in  sections  26,  27. 

Green  Lake  township  has  Henderson  lake  in  section  6 ;  Twin  lakes, 
sections  7  and  8 ;  Elk  Horn  lake,  sections  9  and  16,  where  a  pair  of  very 


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274  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

large  elk  antlers  were  found  n  18S7    E  gl    1  k  d  bj  th    w    t  T 

ftht         hp        dBOklk  t       3t 

hasRiglkFldSlgllk        dLog       Ndlk 


ach    f  1    g                   t          th 

tptPtikKgSkt            d 

Swan  Ik       t  th         th      t  th 

d      d  th   d  b     g 

m  df      p 

farm             dSltn       Ik      tth          tlwt       md 

lk    F     t  1  k 

Wllm        f       =;  1  m       R    F     t 

h       ft            t  d    h 

!  k               h     t 

and  t    pp 

1     W  m      t         1  p    b     d 

th     1  k      f  tl          m 

Sw       1  k 

f    1             t                 t         9 

d  10       d  Ch      1 

d  L    dgr      1  k 

pect      ly             t          23       d 

6  wh   h          1   11  w 

d  E       y 

Irv    g  h       C  11          Ik 

d  f                  ly      ttl 

1             d      ttl 

tl           Ott      1  k           y    m  11 

t        4        d  Sh 

k      I  k               d 

byth         thi         f       t       Obthd         d        dLog 

Ik          th        rth 

p    t    f       t       6       t    d    g     t 

R         U 

N  wL     d      h      B       Ik 

t       7    C  d      11 

dl  k              t 

17       m  d  f       t       d      d      t 

N    t  1  k               t 

28      d  29 

m    k  hi     f      th    f              b     d 

f        t      f  d     b 

1          t  d        m 

ant             m     ly       I!  d     bl     k  ] 

k             th    t           f 

tig        Id 

and  G      g        d  W     d  ock  I  k 

p    t     1           ect 

12      d  33 

tend    g       th     t    G         L  k    t 

h  p     Tl     i    t  w 

d  f      El ]  h 

TV,     d      k  tl     ii    t      ttl 

t     L  k    E  ght 

t         5      d  8 

t       I  t  d  f    m  th        m    gl 

b     Sw  d   h      ttl 

m      h         ly 

db        t          w  t 

Lk    Ad    wtw    hpwth 

t    1  k             m  d  h 

1      M  ddl    1  k 

dNwjlk      LkMrv 

tl           t  1         f 

t        19    N      tdt 

1  k           11       d    h  11  w           ct 

4        d            th 

th     d      f  th 

t  w    1  p    Lak    Fid        dCklkfhItbg  dfmt 

kdtl  LkFld  dth        b        fit        dgntd 

by  th  1>       ttl  f  N  y  Lak  t     f    t     1       t         t     th 

th 

A    t    d      h      Sw  1  k  t         24      d  2S     W    t      d  Sand 

1  k  t         16       1  17  h       b       d    m  d 

BbkhLkT       ty       th         t  mbd       dMdlk 

th         th  1         f  th     t         h  p 

C  If       h       P  d  St     ff      1  k         1    II  m  t  m      dry 

t         tl       t  p    t    T  mb      I  k     Sk  11      d  S         Ik  d  b  mes  I  k 

t  th  thw    t        d  S     d    Th  mp  d  H    t  d  I  k  t  th 

hlfthltb     g      mdf       \dwOHytdan       lyfm     th 

IN  yLktwlp  LtRth         dE  Gl  lk 

near  its  center ;  and  Deer  lake,  Lake  OIc,  Lake  of  Hefta,  and  Brenner 
lake  in  its  north  part,  with  Crook  lake  on  its  north  line.  Glesne  lake  was 
named  for  Even  O.  Glesne,  a  pioneer  farmer  beside  it,  and  Lake  Bertha 
for  his  daughter.  "Lake  of  Hefta  was  so  called  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Marie 
Hefta,  .  .   .  who  was  born  on  a  place  of  that  name  in  Norway;"  and 


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KANDIYOHI  COUNTY  275 

Brenner  lake  was  named  for  Andreas  Hanson  "Brenner,"  the  added 
surname  having  reference  to  "his  vocation  in  Norway  as  manufacturer 
of  tar." 

When  the  first  pioneers  came,  their  settlements  or  small  neighborhoods 
preceding  the  organization  of  townships  were  designated  by. the  adjoining 
lakes,  as  the  Diamond  Lake,  Eagle  Lake,  and  Nest  Lake  settlements. 
Finally  nine  townships,  among  them  being  Kandiyohi,  Mamre,  and  St. 
John's,  were  thus  named  for  their  lakes. 

Hills  of  the  Waconia  and  Dovre  Moraines. 

The  north  half  of  this  county  is  crossed  by  two  belts  of  morainic 
drift  hills,  very  irregular  in  contour  and  attaining  heights  of  100  to  200 
feet  above  the  lowlands  and  lakes.  Names  applied  to  parts  of  these 
hilly  tracts,  and  to  some  of  the  more  conspicuous  separate  elevations,  are 
Cape  Bad  Luck  and  Sugarloaf,  in  the  south  edge  of  Roseville;  the  Blue 
hills,  culminating  in  Mount  Tom,  about  a  mile  north  of  Lake  Andrew; 
the  hills  before  noted  as  giving  their  name  to  Dovre  township;  and 
Ostlutid's  hill,  in  section  22,  Mamre,  named  for  Lars  Ostlund,  a  farmer 
at  its  west  side. 

Derived  from  the  hills  in  Dovre,  this  name  is  extended  to  the  seventh 
or  Dovre  moraine  in  the  series  of  twelve  marginal  moraine  belts  formed 
successively  along  the  receding  border  of  the  continental  ice-slieet  during 
its  final  melting  in  Minnesota. 

Eastward  in  New  London,  Irving,  and  the  edge  of  Roseville,  the  drift 
hills  are  referred  to  a  somewhat  earlier  stage  of  the  glacial  retreat,  being 
a  part  of  the  sixth  or  Waconia  moraine,  named  from  Waconia  in  Carver 
county.  At  Mount  Tom,  and  thence  northwest  for  about  twenty-five 
miles,  the  Waconia  and  Dovre  moraines  are  merged  in  a  single  belt  of 
drift  hills,  knolls,  and  short  ridges. 

Sibley  State  Park. 

Adjoining  Lake  Andrew  with  a  shore  line  of  one  and  a  half  miles, 
this  park,  named  in  honor  of  Governor  Henry  Hastings  Sibley,  was  pro- 
vided through  purchase  by  the  state  in  July,  !919.  It  is  a  tract  of  3S6 
acres,  consisting  of  high  morainic  hills,  short  ridges,  and  hollows,  sprinkled 
with  drift  boulders  and  covered  with  hardwood  timber.  Its  acquirement 
as  a  state  park  was  advocated  by  Victor  E.  Lawson,  of  Willmar,  and 
Peter'  Broberg,  of  New  London ;  and  its  supervision  and  development 
are  to  be  directed  by  Carlos  Avery,  state  game  and  fish  c 


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KITTSON  COUNTY 

Forming  the  northwest  corner  of  this  state,  Kittson  county  was  estab- 
lished by  being  thus  renamed,  March  9,  1878,  and  by  reduction  from  its 
area,  making  Marshall  county,  February  25,  1879.  Previously  it  had  been 
a  part  of  Pembina  county,  one  of  the  nine  large  counties  into  which  the 
new  Minnesota  Territory  was  originally  divided,  October  27,  1849.  It 
was  named  in  honor  of  Norman  Wolfred  Kittson,  one  of  the  leading 
pioneers  of  the  territory  and  state.  He  was  born  in  Sorel,  Canada,  March 
5,  1814;  came  to  the  area  that  afterward  was  Minnesota  in  1834,  and  dur- 
ing four  years  was  engaged  in  the  sutler's  department  at  Fort  Snelling; 
was  later  a  fur  trader  on  his  own  account,  and  became  manager  for  the 
American  Fur  Company  in  northern  Minnesota ;  engaged  in  transporta- 
tion business,  at  Fort  Snelling,  Pembina,  and  SL  Paul ;  was  a  member 
of  the  territorial  legislature,  1851 -SS,  and  mayor  of  St.  Paul,  1858;  be- 
came director  of  steamboat  traffic  on  the  Red  river  for  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  in  1864;  and  established  a  line  of  steamers  and  barges  known  as 
the  Red  River  Transportation  Company,  whence  he  was  often  called 
"Commodore."  He  died  suddenly.  May  11,  1888,  on  3  railway  train  in 
his  journey  of  return  to  Minnesota  from  the  east.  The  Catholic  Cathe- 
dral in  St.  Paul  is  built  on  the  site  of  his  home. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  present  name  of  Kittson  county,  the  former 
Pembina  county  ceased  to  exist  in  Minnesota,  but  it  is  still  represented 
by  a  North  Dakota  county  bearing  that  name,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Red  river.  It  was  first  the  name  of  a  river  there,  was  thence  applied  to 
an  early  fur  trading  post  at  the  junction  of  this  stream  with  the  Red  river, 
was  given  in  1849  to  the  great  Pembina  county,  and  later  to  the  town 
that  became  the  county  seat  of  its  part  in  Dakota  Territory,  near  the  site 
of  the  old  trading  post.  Keating  wrote,  in  his  Narrative  of  Long's  expedi- 
tion in  1823,  that  it  was  derived  from  the  Ojibway  word  for  the  fruit 
of  the  bush  cranberry,  "anepeminan,  which  name  has  been  shortened 
and  corrupted  into  Pembina."  This  tall  bush  (Viburnum  Opulus,  L.)  is 
common  along  the  Pembina  and  Red  rivers,  as  also  through  the  north  half 
of  Minnesota,  and  its  fruit  is  much  used  for  sauce  by  the  Ojibways  and  the 
white  people.  Neill  translated  the  name  as  follows  (History  of  Minne- 
sota, p.  868)  :  "The  Pembina  river,  called  by  Thompson  'Summer  Berry,' 
was  named  after  a  red  berry  which  the  Chippeways  call  Nepin  (summer) 
Minan  (berry),  and  this  by  the  voyageurs  has  been  abbreviated  to  Pem- 
bina, which  is  more  euphonious." 


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KITTSON  COUNTY  277 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  has  been  gaUiered  from  "History  of  the  Red  River  Val- 
ley." two  volumes,  1909,  the  chapter  for  this  county,  by  Edward  Nelson, 
former  register  of  deeds,  being  pages  923-966;  and  from  interviews  with 
Mr.  Nelson  and  Axel  Lindegard,  a  merchant  in  Hallock,  the  county  seat, 
during  a  visit  there  in  August,  1909,  and  Edward  A.  Johnson,  clerk  of 
court,  and  again  with  Mr.  Lindegard,  in  a  second  visit  there,  September, 
1916. 

Abveeon  township,  organized  July  14,  1902.  was  named  in  honor  ot 
Arve  Arveson,  a  settler  in  Davis,  who  was  then  chairman  of  the  county 


Bronsok,  a  railway  village  in  Percy,  was  named  for  Giles  Bronson,  an 
early  farmer  in  section  32  of  that  township,  well  known  for  entertaining 
sportsmen  at  his  home. 

Cannon  township,  organized  July  11,  1904,  was  named  for  Thomas 
Cannon,  a  merchant  in  Northcote,  who  was  one  of  the  county  commis- 
sioners. 

Cakibou  township,  organized  January  8,  1908,  had  a  few  reindeer,  of 
geographic  limitation  jn  the  wooded  and  partly  swampy  region  of  northern 
Minnesota  and  Canada,  named  Rangifer  caribou.  The  second  word  of  the 
name  is  of  Algonquin  Indian  origin,  meaning  a  pawer  or  scratcher,  in 
allusion  to  the  habit  of  this  animal  in  winter,  pawing  in  the  snow  to  eat 
the  reindeer  moss  beneath. 

Clow  township  commemorates  several  brothers  of  that  name,  early 
settlers  there,  who  came  from  Prince  Edward  Island, 

Davis  township,  organized  July  24,  1882,  was  named  in  honor  of  Ed- 
ward N.  Davis  a  settler  in  section  30,  who  was  a  county  commissioner, 
but  removed  to  Georgia. 

Deehwood  was  organized  July  23,  1888,  receiving  this  name  from  its 
deer  and  its  tracts  of  woodland. 

Donaldson,  the  railway  village  of  Davis  township,  was  named  for 
Captain  Hugh  W.  Donaldson,  a  veteran  of  the  civil  war,  manager  of  an 
adjoining  farm  of  several  thousand  acres,  owned  by  the  Kennedy  Land 
Company. 

Gkanville  township,  organized  July  27,  1885,  took  a  name  that  is  home 
by  villages  and  townships  in  twelve  other  states. 

Hallock  township,  which  includes  the  county  seat,  was  organized 
August  2,  1880,  and  was  named  in  honor  of  one  of  the  founders  of  its 
village,  Charles  Hallock,  the  widely  known  sportsman,  journalist,  and 
author.  He  was  born  in  New  York  city,  March  13,  1834;  was  graduated 
at  Amherst  college,  1854;  was  during  many  years  editor  of  "Forest  and 
Stream,"  which  he  founded  in  1873;  erected  a  large  hotel  here  in  1890, 
which  was  a  noted  resort  of  sportsmen  until  it  was  burned  in  1892;  is 
author  of  many  magazine  articles  and  books  on  hunting,  fishing,  travel 


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278  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

in  Alaska,  Florida,  etc. ;  now  resides  in  Washington,  D.  C.  Hallock  vil- 
lage, platted  in  lS?9-80,  was  incorporated  June  11,  1887. 

Halma  is  the  railway  village  of  Norway  township. 

Hampden  township  was  the  earliest  organized  in  this  county,  July  28, 
1879.  It  was  named  on  the  suggestion  of  officers  of  its  railway,  for  John 
Hampden  (b,  1594,  d.  1643),  the  celebrated  statesman  and  patriot  of  Eng- 

Hazelton  township,  organized  July  23,  1888,  was  probably  named  for 
its  plentiful  growth  of  wild  hazelnut  bushes.  Minnesota  has  two  species, 
each  being  common  through  its  northern  part. 

Hill  township,  organized  January  11,  1901,  is  named  in  honor  of  the 
distinguishd  railway  builder  and  president,  James  Jerome  Hill,  who  owned 
and  farmed  large  tracts  in  and  adjoining  this  township.  He  was  born 
near  Guelph,  Ontario,  September  16,  1838;  and  died  at  his  home  in  St. 
Paul,  May  29,  1916.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856,  and  engaged  in 
steamboat  and  railway  transportation.  In  1871  he  consolidated  the  trans- 
portation business,  of  Norman  W.  Kittson  in  the  Red  river  region  with  liis 
own;  and  Donald  A.  Smith  (since  Lord  Strathcona)  managed  the  com- 
pany jointly  with  himself.  He  was  the  prime  mover  in  the  effort  to  secure 
the  bonds  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad,  successfully  accomplishing 
this  in  1878,  with  reorganization  under  the  name  of  the  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
apolis and  Manitoba  Railway  Co.,  of  which  he  was  general  manager,  1879- 
82;  and  president,  1883-90.  This  railway  and  its  new  branches  were  again 
changed  in  name  in  1890  to  be  the  Great  Northern  railway  system,  of  which 
Mr.  Hill  continued  as  president  till  1907,  becoming  then  chairman  of  its 
board  of  directors.  His  biography,  by  Joseph  G.  Pyle,  in  two  volumes, 
with  portraits,  was  published  in  1917.  The  extensive  Hill  farm,  compris- 
ing about  15,000  acres  in  Hill  and  St.  Vincent  townships,  was  sold  during 
the  summer  of  1917,  in  127  parts,  to  make  small  farms  for  settlers. 

HuMBOLErr  is  a  Great  Northern  railway  village  in  the  southeast  part  of 
St.  Vincent  township.  This  name,  borne  by  counties  in  Iowa,  Nevada, 
and  California,  and  by  villages  or  small  cities  in  seven  states,  i 
orates  Baron.  Alexander  von  Humboldt  (b.  1769,  d.  1859),  a 
German  scientist  and  author,  who  in  1799  to  1804  traveled  in  South  Ameri- 
ca and  Mexico. 

Jupiter  township,  organized  November  10,  1883,  was  named  for  the 
planet  Jupiter  by  Nels  Hultgren,  an  early  Norwegian  settler  there,  who 
had  been  a  sea  captain. 

Karlstad,  a  Soo  railway  village  in  the  east  edge  of  Deerwood,  was 
named  for  the  city  of  Karlstad  Jn  Sweden. 

Kenneby,  a  Great  Northern  railway  village,  was  named  in  honor  of 
John  Stewart  Kennedy  (b.  1830,  d.  1909).  From  his  former  home  in  Scot- 
land he  came  to  America  in  1856,  settled  in  New  York  city,  and  was  an 
iron  merchant,  banker,  and  railway  director.  He  was  a  generous  donor  to 
many  public  charities,  and  for  educational  and  religious  work. 


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KITTSON  COUNTY  279 

Lancaster  is  a  Soo  railway  village  in  the  east  edge  of  Granville. 
Eighteen  states  have  villages,  cities,  or  townships  of  this  name,  derived 
from  a  city  and  county  of  England. 

McKiNLEY  township,  organized  July  14,  1902,  was  named  in  honor  of 
William  McKinley  (b.  1843,  d,  1901),  who  was  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Ohio,  1877-91;  governor  of  Ohio,  1892-^;  and  president  of  the  United 
States,  1897-1901. 

No&THcOTE,  the  railway  village  in  Hampden,  was  named  in  honor  of  Sir 
Stafford  Henry  Northcote  (b,  1818,  d.  1887),  an  eminent  English  statesman 
and  financier.  He  was  a  commissioner  at  the  treaty  of  Washington  in 
1871,  which  referred  the  Alabama  claims  of  the  United  States  against 
England  to  an  international  tribunal  of  arbitration. 

NoswAY  township,  organized  January  9,  1901,  was  named  for  the  coun- 
try from  which  nearly  all  its  settlers  came. 

NoYES,  a  station  of  the  Great  Northern  and  Soo  railways  adjoining 
the  international  boundary,  was  named  in  honor  of  J.  A.  Noyes,  the  U.  S. 
customs  collector  there. 

Orleans,  a  Soo  railway  village  in  the  east  edge  of  Clow,  was  named 
by  officers  of  that  railway.  Derived  from  the  city  of  Orleans  in  France, 
this  name  is  borne  by  counties  in  Vermont  and  New  York,  and  by  town- 
ships and  villages  in  Massachusetts  and  seven  other  states. 

PixAN  township,  organized  April  20,  1900,  was  named  for  Charles  H, 
Peian,  a  pioneer  settler  there. 

Percy  township,  organized  July  9,  1900,  was  named  for  Howard  Percy, 
an  early  trapper  and  hunter. 

PoppLETONj  organized  April  8,  1893,  received  its  name,  by  a  common 
mispronunciation,  for  the  plentiful  poplar  trees  and  groves  in  this  town- 

Re5>  River  township,  organized  January  5,  1881,  having  a  length  of 
twelve  miles  from-  south  to  north,  is  named  for  the  river  that  is  its 
western  boundary. 

RicHAHDViLLE  township,  organized  January  8,  1895,  was  named  for 
George  Richards,  one  of  its  first  settlers,  whose  homestead  claim  is  the 
southwest  quarter  of  section  30. 

St.  Joseph  township,  organized  January  9,  1901,  was  named  by  its  set- 
tlers, including  Catholic, immigrants  from  Poland,  for  St.  Joseph,  hus- 
band of  the  Virgin  Mary,  The  north  part  sends  its  drainage  west  to  the 
Joe  river,  a  small  stream  so  named  by  the  early  fur  traders  and  voyageurs. 

Sr.  Vincent  township,  organized  March  19,  1880,  is  opposite  to  Pem- 
bina, N,  D.  Its  name  had  been  earlier  given,  before  1860,  to  a  post  of 
fur  traders  here,  in  honor  of  the  renowned  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  founder 
of  missions  and  hospitals  in  Paris,  who  died  September  27,  1660,  at  the 
age  of  eighty  years. 

Skane  township,  organized  May  10,  1887,  was  named  for  the  old 
province  of  Scania,  the  most  southern  part  of  Sweden. 


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280  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Spkinc  Brook  township,  organized  January  2,  1884,  received  the  name 
of  a  brook  flowing  through  its  southern  part. 

SvEA  township,  organized  February  IS,  1884,  bears  a  name  given  in 
poetry  to  Sweden,  the  native  country  of  many  of  its  settlers. 

TEOtfEn,  organized  July  24,  1882,  was  named  in  honor  of  Esaias  Teg- 
ner  (b.  1782,  d.  1846),  a  famous  Swedish  poet.  In  1811  he  was  awarded 
the  prize  of  the  Academy  of  Sweden  for  a  long  poem  entitled  "Svea;" 
and  in  1^5  he  published  his  most  celebrated  work,  "Frithjofs  Saga," 
based  on  the  old  Norse  saga  of  this  name. 

Teien,  organized  April  5,  1882,  was  named  for  Andrew  C.  Teien,  an 
early  Norwegian  homesteader  in  section  4. 

Thompson,  organized  July  24,  1882,  was  named  for  William,  Robert, 
and  George  Thompson,  brothers,  who  took  homestead  claims  in  this  town- 
ship as  pioneer  farmers. 

Townships  161  and  162,  in  Range  45,  are  yet  unorganized. 

Lakes  and  Steeams. 

This  county,  lying  wholly  within  the  great  area  of  the  Glacial  Lake 
Agassii,  has  now  only  very  few  and  very  small  lakes.  These  are  the 
Twin  lakes  in  Arveson,  Scull  lake  in  section  22,  St.  Joseph,  and  Lake 
Stella  (a  star),  adjoining  the  village  of  St  Vincent.  The  last  was  called 
"Lac  du  Nord  Ouest"  on  the  map  of  Minnesota  in  1860,  meaning,  in  its 
use  by  the  French  voyageurs,  "Lake  of  the  Northwest"  corner  of  this 
North  Star  State. 

Spring  brook,  giving  its  name  to  a  township,  is  one  of  the  sources 
of  Tamarack  river,  (a  translation  of  the  Ojibway  name),  which,  after 
flowing  through  large  swamps,  joins  the  Red  river  in  the  southern  half 
of  Red  River  township. 

The  South  branch  of  Two  fivers  receives  the  Middle  branch  at  Hal- 
lock,  and  it  unites  with  the  North  branch  about  two  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  united  stream.  The  Ojibway  name,  given  by  Gilfillan, 
"is  Ga-nijoshino  zibi,  or  the  river  that  lies  two  together  as  in  a  bed;  no 
doubt,  from  its  two  branches  rimning  parallel." 

Joe  river,  before  noted,  deriving  its  headwaters  from  St.  Joseph  town- 
ship, and  flowing  through  Richardville,  Clow,  and  the  northeast  part  of 
St.  Vincent,  reaches  the  Red  river  about  three  miles  north  of  the  inter- 
national boundary.  In  Clow  the  channel  is  lost  for  several  miles  in  a 
wide  swamp. 


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KOOCHICHING  COUNTY 

This  county,  established  December  19,  1906,  bears  the  Cree  name 
applied  by  the  Ojibways  to  Rainy  lake,  and  also  to  the  Rainy  river  and  to 
its  great  falls  and  rapids  at  International  Falls.  It  is  translated  by  Rev. 
J.  A.  Gilfillan  as  Neighbor  lake  and  river,  or,  under  another  interpretation, 
a  lake  and  river  somewhere.  He  remarked  that  this  word  is  of  difficult 
or  uncertain  meaning,  and  that,  although  in  common  Ojibway  use,  it  does 
not  strictly  belong  to  that  language. 

Jacques  de  Noyon,  a  French  Canadian  vojageur,  who  was  probably 
the  first  white  man  to  traverse  any  part  of  the  northern  boundary  of  Min- 
nesota, about  the  year  1688,  found  this  name  used  in  the  Cree  language 
for  the  Rainy  river.  As  narrated  by  an  official  report  of  the  Intendant 
Begon,  written  at  Quebec,  November  12,  1716,  published  in  the  Margry 
Papers  (vol.  VI,  pages  49S-8),  DeNoyon,  about  twenty-eight  years  pre- 
vious to  that  date,  had  set  out  from  Lake  Superior  by  the  canoe  route  of 
the  Karainistiquia  river,  under  the  guidance  of  a  party  of  Assiniboine 
Indians,  in  the  hope  of  coming  to  the  Sea  of  the  West.  He  passed 
through  Rainy  lake,  called  the  Lake  of  the  Crees,  and  wintered  on  its 
outflowing  river,  the  Takamaniouen,  "otherwise  called  Ouchichiq  by  the 
Crees,"  evidently  the  Koochiching  or  Rainy  river  and  falls,  from  which 
this  county  is  named. 

Another  early  narrative  of  travel,  1740-42,  by  a  French  and  Ojibway 
half-breed  named  Joseph  la  France,  containing  a  description  of  the  Rainy 
lake  and  river,  is  given  in  a  book  published  by  Arthur  Dobbs  in  London 
in  1744,  entitled  "An  Account  of  the  Countries  adjoining  to  Hudson's 
Bay."  La  France  passed  through  Rainy  lake  in  the  later  part  of  April 
and  early  May,  1740,  and  staid  ten  days  at  the  Koochiching  falls  on  the 
Rainy  river  near  the  outlet  of  this  lake.  For  the  purpose  of  fishing,  the 
Moose  band  of  Ojibways  had  "two  great  Villages,  one  on  the  North 
Side,  and  the  other  on  the  South  Side  of  the  Fall,"  being  respectively  on 
or  near  the  sites  of  Fort  Frances  and  International  Falls.  The  narra- 
tive tells  the  origin  of  the  French  name,  Lac  de  la  Pluie  (Lake  of  the 
Rain),  which  in  English  is  Rainy  lake,  that  it  "is  so  called  from  a  per- 
pendicular Water-fall,  by  which  the  Water  falls  into  a  River  South-west 
of  it,  which  raises  a  Mist-like  Rain."  This  refers  to  the  outflowing 
Rainy  river,  in  its  formerly  mist-covered  falls,  since  1908  dammed  and 
supplying  water-power  in  the  city  of  International  Falls  for  the  largest 
paper-making  mills  in  the  world. 

The  original  meanings  of  Ouchichiq  (for  Koochiching,)  the  Cree 
name  of  Rainy  river  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  Takamaniouen,  vari- 
ously spelled,  an  equally  ancient  Indian  name  of  the  Rainy  river  and  lake. 


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282  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

are  uncertain ;  but  it  may  be  true  that  one  or  both  gave  in  translation  the 
French  and  English  names,  which  refer  to  the  mists  of  the  falls,  resemb- 
ling rain. 

Takamaniouen,  as  written  by  Begon  in  1716,  placed  in  another  spelling 
on  the  map  drawn  by  Ochagach  for  Verendrye  in  1728,  was  received 
from  the  Assiniboines.  It  is  thought  by  Horace  V.  Winchell  and  U.  S. 
Grant  (Geology  of  Minnesota,  vol.  IV,  p.  192),  that  this  name  was  trans- 
lated to  'Lac  de  la  Pluie. 

Townships  and  Villages. 

Information  for  this  county  was  gathered  from  Louis  A.  Ogaard, 
county  surveyor,  during  a  visit  at  International  Falls,  the  county  seat,  in 
September,  1909;  and  from  L.  H.  Slocum,  county  auditor,  during  a  second 
visit  there  in  August,  1916. 

Baldus  is  a  recently  organized  township,  probably  named  for  a  pioneer 
settler. 

Bannock  township  received  thds  Gaelic  name  from  Scotland  by  vote 
of  its  bachelor  settlers,  for  their  bannock  bread,  "in  shape  flat  and  round- 
ish, .    .    .  baked  on  an  iron  plate  or  griddle." 

Bear  River  township  is  crossed  by  a  little  river  of  this  name,  flowing 
north  to  the  Big  fork. 

Beaveb  township  had  formerly  many  beaver  dams  on  its  Beaver  brook, 
a  tributary  of  the  Little  fork 

Big  Falls  township  includes  the  railway  village  of  this  name  near  its 
northeast  corner,  at  the  Grand  falls  of  the  Big  fork.  Its  north  side 
adjoins  Grand  Falls  township. 

Bhidgie  township  was  named  for  a  girl,  Bridgie  Moore,  the  first  white 
child  born  there. 

Caldwell  township  and  the  Caldwell  brook,  flowing  to  the  Big  fork, 
were  named  for  an  early  pioneer. 

CiNGMARS  township  was  named  for  E,  F.  Cingmars,  a  French  settler 
there,  who  removed  to  the  west. 

Cross  River  township  was  named  for  this  small  stream,  flowing  north- 
eastward through  it  to  the  Little  fork. 

Dentavbow  township  uniquely  honors  three  of  its  homestead  farmers, 
named  Densmore,  Taylor,  and  Bowman,  each  represented  by  a  syllable  in 
the  name. 

Dinner  Creek  township  is  crossed  by  a  creek  so  named,  where  timber 
cruisers  and  estimators  had  a  meeting  place  for  dinner,  tributary  north- 
westward to  the  Sturgeon  river. 

Engelwood  township  received  its  name  in  compliment  to  its  numerous 
settlers  named  Engelking,  who  came  from  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Ridgely, 
Nicollet  county. 

Eeicsburo,  a  railway  village  on  the  Rat  Root  river,  was  named  in 
honor  of  the  late  Eric  Franson,  of  International  Falls,  a  real  estate 
dealer,  by  whom  it  was  platted. 


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KOOCHICHING  COUNTY  283 

EvEROREEN  township  has  a  general  forest  of  the  evergreen  trees,  in- 
cluding black  and  white  spruce,  balsam  fir,  arbor  vitae  or  white  cedar, 
and  our  three  species  of  pines. 

Fblbman   a  township  organized  in  1916  is  named  for  one  of  its'tirst 


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steader  on  the  site  of  the  villj^e  of  Little  Fork  in  this  township.    He 
from    Northfield,    Minn.;    founded   the   first   newspaper    of   Koochichi 
{now  International  Falls)  ;  is  editor  of  the  Little  Fork  Time 

Kltne  township,  recently  organized,  was  named  for  a  pioneer  settler. 

Koochiching  township,  like  the  county,  took  this  name  from  the  fal!s 
of  Rainy  river. 


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284  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

LiNDFOED  township  was  named  in  honor  of  L.  A.  Lindwall,  a  Swedish 
farmer  beside  the  Big  fork  in  section  13,  wlio  also  owned  a  store  and 
was  the  Lindford  postmaster. 

Little  Fork,  the  railway  village  of  Jameson,  is  named  for  its  location 
on  the  Little  fork  of  the  Rainy  river. 

MANiTOtJ  received  its  Ojibway  name,  meaning  a  spirit,  from  the  Mani- 
tou  rapids  of  Rainy  river,  which  forms  the  north  boundary  of  this  town- 
ship. The  river  falls  about  three  feet  in  these  rapids,  "a  short  pitch  over 
solid  rock  on  the  bottom  and  in  both  banks." 

Meaiww  Brook  township  has  a  small  stream  of  this  name,  tributary  to 
the  Bear  river. 

Medikg  township  was  named  for  Paul  Meding,  an  early  German  farm- 

MizpAH,  the  name  of  a  railway  village  in  Engelwood,  is  the  Hebrew 
word  for  a  watchtower.  It  is  used  as  a  parting  salutation,  meaning  "The 
Lord  watch  between  me  and  thee,  when  we  are  absent  one  from  another" 
(Genesis,  xxxi,  49). 

MuHPHv  township  was  named  in  honor  of  an  Irish  pioneer,  whose 
homestead  farm  here  nearly  adjoined  the  Rainy  river. 

Net  Lake  township  and  Net  River  township  border  on  the  Bois  Fort 
or  Net  Lake  Indian  Reservation,  which  is  more  fully  noticed,  with  the 
origin  of  these  names,  at  the  end  of  this  chapter, 

NoRDEisf  township  and  its  earlier  Norden  post  office  were  named  for 
Norwegian  settlers. 

NORTHOME,  a  railway  village  near  the  southwest  corner  of  the  county, 
was  named  North  Home  by  Harris  Richardson,  of  St.  Paul,  who  with 
others  platted  this  village.  The  name  was  clianged  to  its  present  form 
by  request  of  the  U,  S.  Post  Oflice  Department. 

Pelland,  a  hamlet  at  tile  mouth  of  the  Little  fork,  was  named  for 
Joseph  Pelland,  a  French  farmer,  who  was  its  postmaster. 

Pine  Top  township  was  named  for  an  exceptionally  tall  white  pine, 
which  had  at  its  top  a  peculiar  cluster  of  small  branches. 

Plum  Cheek  township  has  a  little  stream  so  named  for  its  wild  plum 

"Rainy  Lake  Crrv"  was  a  gold  mining  station,  during  a  few  years,  at 
the  east  side  of  the  strait  between  Rainy  lake  and  Black  bay  (also  called 
Rat  Root  lake).  A  stamp  mill  was  built  there  in  1894  for  crushing  the 
ore  mined  on  the  southwest  end  of  Dryweed  island,  less  than  a  mile  dis- 
tant; but  the  work  failed  to  repay  its  expenses,  and  about  fifteen  years 
later  the  proposed  city  site  was  abandoned. 

Ranier  is  a  village  of  the  Duluth,  Winnipeg  and  Pacific  railway  at  the 
mouth  of  Rainy  lake,  named  by  officers  of  this  railway. 

Rapid  Rivm  township  contains  the  sources  of  the  East  fork  of  the 
river  so  named,  flowing  thence  north  to  the  Rapid  and  Rainy  rivers. 

Rat  Root  township  is  crossed  by  the  circuitous  course  of  the  river  so 
named,  tributary  to  Rat  Root  lake,  which  also  is  very  commonly  called 


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KOOCHICHING  COUNTY 


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was  a  land  surveyor  and  timber  cruiser,  often  tra\    ■'•ng  this  region. 

Reedy  township  commemorates  David  Reedy,  its  .  -ettler,  an  immi- 
grant from  Ireland,  who  took  a  land  claim  at  the  west  ;  of  the  mouth. 
of  the  Big  fork. 

Saitlt  township  received  its  name,  the  French  word  for  a  leap  or 
jump,   from   the  Long  Sault   rapids   of   Rainy  river,   which   is   its   north 
boundary.     The  rapids  are  about  a  mile  long,  falling  about  seven  feet. 
Scarlett  and  Steffes  townships  were  named  in  honor  of  pioneers. 
Sturgeon  River  township  is  traversed  in  its  south  part  by  this  river, 
flowing  east  fo  the  Big  fork.     The  name,  probably  translated  from  the 
Ojibways,  refers  to  the  ascent  of  the  lake  or  rock  sturgeon  to  this  stream. 
SUMMERViLLE  township  was  named  by  vote  of  its  people.     There  are 
villages   or   townships  of  this  name   in   Pennsylvania,   North   and   South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  other  states  of  the  Union,  and  also  in  Nova  Scotia 
and  Ontario. 

Wakren  township,  organized  in  1916,  has  a  name  that  is  borne  by 
counties  in  fourteen  states,  and  by  townships,  villages  and  cities  in  twenty- 
four  states,  a  large  majority  being  in  commemoration  of  Joseph  Warren, 
who  fell  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

Watrous  township  was  named  for  Charles  B.  Watrous,  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  was  a  farmer  here  and  owned  a  large  sawmill  on  the  Rainy 
river  near  the  east  line  of  this  township. 

White  Birch  township  has  an  abundance  of  the  paper  or  canoe  bircli, 
used  by  the  Indians  fo  make  their  birch  bark  canoes. 

Wicker  township  was  named  for  Harry  Wicker,  a  homesteader  in  its 
sections  10  and  11,  on  the  Big  fork. 

WiLDWooD  township  received  this  name  in  the  petition  of  its  people 
for  organization, 

Williams  lownship  was  named  in  honor  of  James  Williams,  well 
known  for  his  operating  a  portable  sawmill,  whose  homestead  farm  on  tfie 
Rainy  river  is  in  sections  6  and  7,  at  the  northwest  corner  of  this  town- 
ship and  of  the  county. 


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286  MINNESOTA  GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

Lakes  and  Streams, 

Foregoing  pages  have  sufficiently  noted  the  names  of  the  Rainy  lake 
and  river,  the  Koochiching  or  International  falls,  the  Big  and  Little  forks 
of  Rainy  river,  Bear  river,  Beaver  brook,  Caldwell  brook,  Cross  river, 
Dinner  creek,  the  Grand  falls  of  the  Big  fork,  the  Manitou  and  Long 
Sault  rapids  of  Rainy  river.  Meadow  brook,  Plum  creek,  the  East  fork 
of  Rapid  river,  the  Rat  Root  river  and  lake  (this  lake,  united  to  Rainy 
lake  by  a  strait,  being  also  named  Black  bay),  and  the  Sturgeon  river. 

Names  of  islands,  bays,  and  points  of  the  part  of  Rainy  lake  belonging 
to  this  county,  in  their  order  from  east  to  west,  are  Dryweed  island  before 
mentioned  for  its  gold  mining,  Sha  Sha  point  and  Black  bay.  Grindstone 
island.  Gi'assy  island  and  Grassy  narrows  separating  it  from  the  south 
shore.  Red  Sucker  island,  Jackfish  island  and  bay.  Stop  island,  Kingston 
island,  and  Sand  bay  and  Pither's  point  at  the  mouth  of  the  lake. 

The  Big  fork  is  known  by  the  Ojibways  as  Bowstring  river,  from  its 
source  in  the  large  Bowstring  lake,  which  is  translated  from  the  name 
Atchabani  or  Busatchabani,  given  by  them  to  the  lake  and  its  outflowing 
stream,  before  noticed  in  the  chapter  for  Itasca  -county. 

The  Little  fork  bears  a  peculiarly  descriptive  Ojibway  name,  recorded 
by  Gilfilfan  as  Ningtawonani  zibi,  "the  river  separating  canoe  routes," 
which  name  is  also  applied,  with  a  slight  change,  to  the  Net  river.  In  the 
tiiought  of  these  Indians,  expressed  by  the  name,  canoe  voyageurs  ascend- 
ing the  Little  fork  may  go  forward  to  its  source  or  may  turn  aside  and  go 
up  Net  river,  having  thus  the  choice  of  separate  routes. 

The  Ojibway  name  of  Net  lake  was  written  Asubikone  by  GilfiUan, 
meaning  "taken  or  entangled  in  the  net."  Its  origin,  as  told  by  the  Bois 
Fort  Ojjbways,  is  presented  in  the  notice  of  their  reservation. 

Only  a  few  other  names  of  streams  and  lakes  in  this  county  remaiD 
to  be  listed. 

South  of  Net  lake,  Prairie  creek  and  Willow  creek  flow  into  the 
Little  fork  from  the  east ;  Reilly  creek  is  a  small  eastern  tributary  of  the 
Big  fork,  about  ten  miles  south  of  Big  Falls ;  Black  river,  named  for  its 
peat-stained  water,  joins  Rainy  river  about  three  miles  west  of  the  Big 
fork;  Tamarack  river  flows  from  Gemmell  northwestward  to  the  north 
part  of  Red  lake;  and  the  headstream  of  Battle  river,  (formerly  mapped 
here  as  Armstrong  creek),  tributary  to  the  south  part  of  that  lake,  crosses 
Bridgie  township,  in  the  southwest  corner  of  this  county. 

Among  the  few  and  little  lakes,  limited  to  tiie  south  edge  of  the  county 
above  the  highest  shoreline  of  Lake  Agassiz,  only  Bartlett  lake,  at  North- 
ome,  and  Battle  lake,  through  which  the  Battle  river  flows,  are  named  on 


Bois  FoBT  OR  Net  Lake  Indian  Reservation. 
This  small  Ojibway  reservation,  comprising  the  whole  or  parts  of  nine 
surveyed  townships  and  inclosing  Net  lake,  lies  in  Koochiching  and  St. 


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KOOCHICHING  COUNTY  287 

Louis  counties.  By  a  census  in  1909  the  number  of  the  Bois  Fort  band 
was  641.  They  call  themselves  Sugwaundugah  wininewug,  meaning  "Men 
of  the  thick  fir  woods ;"  but  the  early  French  traders  named  them  Bois 
Forts,  "Hard  Wood  Indians." 

In  the  treaty  at  Washington,  April  7,  1866,  providing  this  reservation, 
the  name  given  to  Net  lake  by  the  Ojibways  was  spelled  As-sab-a-co-na. 
Albert  B.  Reagan,  who  was  the  United  States  agent  here  in  1909-14,  writes 
the  traditional  origin  of  this  name,  received  as  a  myth  of  the  Bois  Fort 
medicine  men.  The  Ojibways,  coming  first  by  the  route  of  Vermilion  and 
Pelican  lakes,  are  said  to  have  found  on  the  little  island  of  Net  lake  many 
strange  beasts,  "half  sea-Hon  and  half  fish,"  who  fled  westward  by  swim- 
ming and  wading  thjugh  the  shallow  and  mostly  rice-filied  lake.  "On 
coming  to -the  island  the  canoemen  paddled  around  it,  and  by  the  track  of 
the  muddied  water  pursued  the  beasts  aLro^s  the  lake  and  up  a  creek 
till  they  found  where  the  earth  had  swallowed  them,  as  if  they  had  been 
caught  jn  a  net."  The  mvth  is  thought  to  refer  to  the  flight  and  escape 
of  a  party  of  their  enemie'!  the  Sioux  whom  the  Ojibways  by  many  raids 
and  battles  drove  awa}  from  the  wooded  north  part  of  Minnesota. 

The  northeast  side  of  t!  is  island  which  is  named  Picture  island  by 
the  white  people  but  Drum  island  b>  the  Ojibways,  has  a  smoothly 
glaciated  rock  surface  as  described  by  Reagan,  "covered  with  crudely 
made  pictngraphs  of  human  bemgs  dance  scenes,  and  outlines  or  the 
animal  gods  worshipped  by  the  men  making  the  pictures.  .  .  .  Ihe  draw- 
ings seem  to  be  similar  to  those  at  Pipestone,  Minnesota,  which  are 
known  to  be  Siouan  Furthermore,  the  Ojibways  say  that  their  people 
did  not  make  the  rock  pictures." 

COUTCHICHING  RoCK  FORMATION. 
Reports  on  the  geology  of  the  parts  of  Canada  and  Minnesota  sur- 
r